I can still taste the smell of the raw processed chicken on my lips in Keyser, West Virgina the one day I stopped there. The pungent smell is a little hard to describe it actually.
Food stamps were originally designed not only to help the food insecure but also farmers. But it does a bad job at both of those things, mainly because food processors and retailers take a big chunk out of the limited food dollars.
I think food stamps should be restructured to incentivize direct farmer-to-consumer purchases, cutting out the middle-man and off-farm processor so farms get to keep more of the profits.
Moreover, food stamps should at least in part be replaced with government-subsidized community-supported agricultural (CSA) memberships, and things like direct to door delivery of fresh milk and farm produce from local farms. Expanding SNAP accessibility at farmers markets also would help, and making SNAP dollars go further at farmers markets then grocery stores. Maybe a $1 in SNAP at a grocery store could be subsidized so it buys $2 in SNAP at a farmer market or a farm stand.
Many low-income people live a long ways from grocery stores. There are many parts of New York State where you have to drive a half hour to get to a grocery store with a full-selection of quality, affordable foods. Many low-income people lack transportation or funds to get to these bigger stores. Many are elderly, disabled, or have young children.
Farmer delivery of SNAP purchased foods is a good idea. Maybe farmers could get together to deliver a wide variety of local foods to the food insecure, like maple syrup, milk, beef, pork, sweet corn, potatoes, apples, peaches, blueberries and many other crops grown in-state.
Maybe it could be combined with returnable milk bottles and boxes, and a compost-service, that would make it a zero waste SNAP program. SNAP recipients would get healthy food delivered each week, and get their food scraps, empty milk bottles, and other green waste brought back to the farm for use as animal feed and composting for fertilizer. This further would reduce costs -- billions are wasted each year in discarded packaging and food waste with the current SNAP program.
For too long in our country, we have been stuck with outdated ideas. Home food delivery of fresh local produce to SNAP recipients, to replace part of the SNAP benefit, is one good idea that I our country should move forward on.
President Donald Trump is a good conversation starter, even if his ideas don't go far enough to jump start our economy and make our public programs more successful.
"Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, a hunger advocacy group that also helps clients access food-assistance services, said the administration's plan left him baffled. "They have managed to propose nearly the impossible, taking over $200 billion worth of food from low-income Americans while increasing bureaucracy and reducing choices," Berg says. He says SNAP is efficient because it is a "free market model" that lets recipients shop at stores for their benefits. The Trump administration's proposal, he said, "is a far more intrusive, Big Government answer. They think a bureaucrat in D.C. is better at picking out what your family needs than you are?"
"You’re thinking, “Good for Cuomo. He’s helping hungry kids and using federal money to pay for it. Big deal. Who opposes that? It doesn’t change my opinion of him.” But it should. Issues like hunger are extremely important but not when it comes to elections. When people step into the voting booth, they have maybe a few things in mind: political party, basic impressions of each candidate’s character, and, at most, one or two specific policy issues that they like or don’t like about either candidate. Sadly, those one or two issues are rarely childhood hunger."
I am very fascinated about the Dollar General boom. I keep seeing them around, popping up in small towns. They are often the only store around for milesin places like Cattaragus, NY or Renovo, PA. They certainly are convenient for when your out traveling and camping in places whether otherwise the nearest grocery store may be a half hour or father way.