Author: Alfonso Morales

New work on farmers markets!

I’ll likely be blogging about this – Please have a look at this:

Plan, Partner, Promote: Top eight tips to support Wisconsin farmers market outreach and marketing

Measurements at Farmers Markets Inspire ACTION

Farmers markets are multifunctional activities, threading together many types of purposes people have. Elderly often fondly recall the days of their youth at local markets and we know that markets decreased over the course of their lives, but we also know the demand for local foods have returned marketplaces to prominence over the last 30 years. We also know that the elderly are often relatively confined and unable to get out to these public spaces. Hernando MS, has increased SNAP participation at their market, but they have also drawn attention for their success in attracting senior citizens to their market. The market in Hernando is organized by the City of Hernando and supervised by Gia Matheny. The market began accepting tokens at a central terminal in 2016 and this increased work load allowed Gia to hire a manager and assistant manager as well, which freed her time for adding more market activities and focusing on other innovative bridge-building in her community. Recognizing the needs of senior citizens in the community she developed a partnership with AARP and United Health Care to incentivize the token program to double SNAP benefits, and from there she has organized a Senior Day on the first Saturday of each month.  Knowing that transportation can be a problem she wrote a successful a grant from an area transportation provider that provides free transportation for seniors on these market days. Senior Day is an important time for seniors to socialize with one another, and this activity contributed to Hernando becoming the first “AARP Senior Friendly Community” in the state of Mississippi. The program success increases the number of seniors coming to each Senior Day, and furthermore, data from the market shows a 70% redemption rate of senior vouchers. Certainly a more comprehensive discussion would describe the organizational activities required to execute this program, yet, the program is a great example.

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