New York state and
the Farmers Market Federation of New York have reached an agreement with the
mobile application vendor, Novo Dia Group, to enable Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program recipients to continue to use their benefits at farmers'
markets across the state through the rest of the farmers' market
season.
Earlier this month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a letter to U.S. Department
of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue urging federal action on this issue.
"New York will not stand idly by as the federal government's
ineptitude takes food out of the mouths of New Yorkers," Cuomo wrote to Perdue.
"This is just another example of the Trump administration's
continued assault on the nation's most needy," Cuomo said. "While the federal government
doles out a contract to an untested company using outdated technology, we will
continue to protect not only our most vulnerable residents, but our
hard-working farmers."
Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded the new
contract that provides SNAP EBT equipment and services for farmers' markets to
a company that does not support mobile, cellular-based transactions, denying
hundreds of thousands of needy families the opportunity to purchase fresh,
nutritious, locally-grown fruits and vegetables.
With no replacement
technology in place, and no foresight by the federal government to anticipate
this situation, both farmers and SNAP beneficiaries would have suffered.
The
Novo Dia Group, which worked with the USDA to develop the cellular mobile
technology that enables farmers' markets to accept SNAP benefit cards for
purchases, had indicated that they were no longer able to continue in business
due to the lack of continued support from the USDA.
In addition, USDA failed to notify impacted states of this
problem. Immediately after learning of this egregious oversight, New York state
began to work with the Farmers Market Federation of NY and other impacted
states to formulate a solution.
New York State's short-term agreement with Novo Dia will provide
uninterrupted access for SNAP recipients to continue to make purchases at
farmers' markets, while also benefiting our local farmers during their busiest
season.
"Losing access to
SNAP through the Novo Dia Group would have been devastating to farmers'
markets. Low income consumers would lose access to fresh, healthy and locally
grown foods, while our state's farmers would have lost significant income that
is critical to supporting our family farmers," said Diane Eggert, executive director.of the Farmers Market Federation of NY.
A record number of farmers markets in NYS now accept SNAP benefits.
