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Re: CSA and food stamps



At 07:21 AM 12/9/98 -0500, Steve McFadden forwarded this:

>>Dear Marla and Friends
>>re: food stamps and CSAs...

>>The problem is that CSA is on a "share" basis.  That there is no
>>"guarantee" that Jane or Joe Consumer will actually get produce.  (The
>>scenario being that what happens if Jane Consumer pays her CSA share in
>>food stamps and then the farm is wiped out by a hurricane and she gets
>>no produce.)
>>
>>This "risk" is something that prevents FNS from saying outright that
>>CSAs can take food stamps.  (We can have emails back and forth for sure
>>saying that CSAs are low-risk, no-risk....) The key in approaching FNS
>>would probably be having a clause in the agreement with the
>>consumer/shareholder that guarantees food stamp users that they will
>>receive a certain minimum quantity of produce.  I think that with a
>>little creative work, the risk issue could be eliminated.  But certainly
>>special shareholder agreements might have to be written for food stamp
>>recipients.
This is the problem we ran into when we were trying to be more inclusive of
the low income community. However, the greater problem was that our FNS
office didn't know what a CSA even was. 

>>....My personal concern is that from the producer side, many food stamp
>>recipients won't be able to put all the share money upfront, which is
>>one of the strong points of the CSA.  Where is the security for the
>>producer?   If a food stamp recipient is paying them month to month and
>>then decides to drop out, the producer ends up having to scramble to
>>find somone else to take the share?    I would suggest this also isn't
>>just a FNS issue, but also a producer issue.  Even if a CSA gets
>>approval to take food stamps, are they willing to make some arrangements
>>to spread out the payments?  If this is the case, it isn't really a CSA
>>is it?   It is just a thought, but I think that one also needs to
>>consider the producer in this, assure them that they aren't going to
>>lose shareholders, that they will have most of their money upfront, and
>>so forth.
We have gone with our own sponsored share program funded by the members and
with donations from community organizations. We have an application. When
we select our applications, we also develop a waiting list in case the
people we select move or otherwise fail to pick up their share for a month.
This still gives the farmers their money up front. We do allow some folks
to pay by the week, but they sign a contract just like our other
shareholders. Typically, they are folks who've had a bad run of luck (hours
cut or layoffs) We've never had any problem with these folks backing out on
us, but I guess there's a first for everything. The only change we might
make is that in the long run if we can't find someone to help coordinate
the program, we may just team up with a local agency that works with
low-income individuals and families and let them do the selection and make
substitutions as necessary. 

anna
Prairieland CSA
http://www.prairienet.org/pcsa


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