California offers an example of how to avoid the electronic equipment snarl that threatens SNAP sales at 40 percent of farmers markets across the nation, says The New Food Economy. “Their method? Creating a system partially, if not fully independent of the federal system.”
When food stamps were converted to an electronic system, the state and a Berkeley nonprofit organization created a wireless point-of-sale (POS) device to handle SNAP purchases. The system is partially funded by USDA and gives eligible markets the POS device for free and covers the transaction costs for using it. Only one farmers market in the state uses software from Novo Dia, which says it cannot afford to stay in operation because of a change in contracts by USDA and now threatens snap sales across the country.
“Several other states have adopted similar programs that offer easy, no-cost-equipment solutions,” says The New Food Economy. In Michigan, the state budget for this year called for no-cost, wireless POS devices for farmers markets, says the Michigan Farmers Market Association. Because the expense was regard as part of the cost of implementing SNAP, half of the cost could be charged to USDA. FERN, in collaboration with the Washington Post, broke the story last month that Novo Dia was exiting the market, leaving many farmers markets without any other immediate option to process SNAP payments.