Posted on 08/09/2017 6:46:21 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
A $3.9 million federal grant awarded to the California Department of Food and Agriculture will help the state expand a program that encourages low-income people to shop at farmers markets, state officials announced this week.
In July, the department launched the California Nutrition Incentive Program, or CNIP, which rewards recipients of CalFresh food stamps who buy fruits and vegetables grown in the state by doubling the value of their vouchers when they purchase at 339 farmers markets throughout the state.
The program’s latest infusion of funds, a three-year Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, builds on several million dollars in private funding and $5 million initially allocated by the state Legislature in 2016 to match federal dollars.
“Primarily, it’s a great way to provide nutritious food to needy Californians, and beyond that, also a way to boost the activities of farmers markets,” said Steve Lyle, state food and agriculture department spokesman.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Whatever keeps ‘em out of Walmart...
How about giving up the LIE about that supposed “endangered fish”?
Then one of the most fertile farming areas of the world could produce more than all of California can eat.
Then they’ll need a voucher for a free car to get there.
Most Californians are nowhere near a Farmer’s Market and the few that are probably would not know what to do with produce.
They could buy produce at any supermarket — but they don’t.
This is just another waste of money. Our money.
I shopped at a farmer’s market yesterday and nobody gave me any money to do it. But then I’m trying to save money so I can pay my local taxes due at the end of August. The government takes money from the pockets of people who have a little, a very little, then parcel it out to buy votes of people who never worked or saved.
I would guess most low-income Californians get their groceries from McDonalds, and wouldn’t know a farmers market if they drove through it stoned.
“Primarily, it’s a great way to begin the process of turning a start-up bureaucracy into a gargantuan, wasteful, bloated bureaucracy.”
There. Fixed it.
At least a third of your tax money for any of these noble programs goes to the government bureaucrats who supervise the program and shuffle the papers to report back to D.C.
Instead of the $8 TRILLION dollars we’ve spent on The Poor, beginning with LBJ’s “War on Poverty,” if the government had just sent The Poor one check every month and let them spend it where they want to, with no bureaucrats “supervising”, it would be a far more efficient system.
Yes, there would be fraud and abuse, but we have fraud and abuse today, along with a bloated bureaucracy that does a lousy job. The nanny state gets its power by taking our money and then doling it out to benefit its friends and punish its enemies, while employing an army of federal employees at much better wages and pensions than they would get in private enterprise.
Actually, farmer’s markets offer no bargains. They tend to have nice produce and an interesting variety of other foods, but price wise they are not cheap. And you have to be careful about what’s passed off as “locally grown”. Sometimes its not. Don’t let the name “farmers” fool you — some of the chatty vendors will rip you off like common street hustlers.
Low income folks could do much better shopping for discounts at no-frills type grocery stores, or at Walmart and Target. Check the weekly fliers and buy what’s on sale. You can save a lot.
At least they are buying real food. Time to cut out the allowance of junk food. I think that would get a lot off food stamps quickly.
Are you kidding me? This is nothing more than a pay out to non-profits to pay their staffs hefty salaries for "feel good" activities that accomplish nothing. How do you measure success for "encouraging people to shop at farmers' markets"? Notice the money isn't going to the food stamp recipients, it's going to organizations to promote the program. 32 organizations! Notice the administrative group got the big chunk of the money ($5 million), while the actual food bank got a whopping $68K. $16.8 million for 40 million on food stamps is just under $3 per person. So, guess what people, money's not going to the food stamp recipients, it's going to some fat cat do-gooder, running a non-profit or state agnecy and cashing in on other people's misfortunes.
“Low income folks could do much better shopping for discounts at no-frills type grocery stores, or at Walmart and Target. Check the weekly fliers and buy what’s on sale. You can save a lot.”
You mean those “big box stores” that get a lot of their produce from Mexico? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to eat produce that’s been “grown” in human excrement. And I don’t need Chinese garlic what with Gilroy, CA a few miles away. Sure, you need to be a wise shopper even at a farmer’s market, but there are bargains to be had together with better quality if you know what to look for.
Outstanding comment!!! Your description could not be more accurate. I’ve worked inside the belly of the beast on numerous management support contracts and your comment is spot on.
The bloated bureaucratic infrastructure is mainly there to support and expand itself.
Congrats on a most excellent post. Sounds like you’ve been there. ;)
Recently I went to my local Walmart after 10:00pm. Next time I do that I’ll need to bring a Spanish-English dictionary with me.
Agree with you 100%.
We have two farmers markets in my town and very little is local, the Hutterite produce is good/great.
The really great local produce is expensive - it should be.
We grow our own tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and carrots so we typically do not buy much at a farmers market...
Looking forward to the Manhattan Potato Festival to pick up some FRESH spuds!
“I would guess most low-income Californians get their groceries from McDonalds, and wouldn’t know a farmers market if they drove through it stoned.”
I went into the Walmart in Napa, CA not long ago. The place was wall to wall Hispanics, make that fat female Hispanics with their gaggles of fat kids. They don’t go there to by produce, unless “cheese doodles” are now considered produce. Two things are evident: They know how to procreate, but they have no idea about nutrition.
“A $3.9 million federal grant awarded to the California Department of Food and Agriculture”
There’s that word again, GRANT! We would have a balanced budget in a heartbeat if we eliminated ALL GRANTS, Including the one’s to the UN and every little $hit hole country on the planet.
As a taxpayer I would rather buy these freeloaders some fresh produce than chips and cookies. But this program will fail because fresh produce needs to be cooked and prepared, and most of these bums are far too lazy to do that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.