While using food stamps to purchase vegetables at a farmers market may seem like a simple exchange, it depends on complex government contracting requirements and increasingly sophisticated technology.
A change this year in federal contracts has left some farmers market operators and advocates nervous. A company that has long provided the technology to 1,700 farmers markets across the country that accept benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, says it is pulling out of the business. And that could jeopardize recipients’ access to fresh food.
Earlier this year, federal officials picked a new contractor to provide equipment to help expand the number of markets that handle SNAP transactions. That contractor, when choosing the companies it would work with, did not include the Novo Dia Group, whose Mobil Market+ app is popular with many markets. After that, Novo Dia announced it would no longer provide its service, even to existing clients, after July of this year.
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