Media Contact: Katherine Heilmann

katherine@millcityfarmersmarket.org

651.492.5283

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mill City Farmers Market Makes Access to Healthy and Affordable Food Easy for Low-Income Minnesotans

Mill City Farmers Market to accept EBT and participate in Market Bucks program;

becomes part of a growing trend seen across Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. (May 23, 2014) Access to fresh, affordable food continues to be a challenge that low-income Minnesotans face as they strive to eat healthier. Fortunately, the Mill City Farmers Market, like many other markets across the state, will be making it easy for low-income Minnesotans to take advantage of the fresh and healthy foods the markets have to offer.

Recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are able to use their benefits at a growing number of Minnesota farmers markets. This season, SNAP shoppers will be able to use EBT cards at more than 70 farmers markets across the state to purchase Minnesota grown fruits, vegetables and other products of farm and fieldfresh foods that low-income shoppers may not find readily otherwise, especially in areas that lack a full service grocery store.

In the face of substantial challenges, farmers markets have found it difficult to adopt a means to accept Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, the means by which SNAP recipients receive and spend their benefits and that replaced paper food stamps about a decade ago. Farmers markets believe the effort to overcome the barriers preventing SNAP recipients from using their benefits at the market to be worthwhile. EBT at farmers markets not only makes access to healthier foods easier for those using SNAP, it also drives more federal dollars into the local economy and the pockets of Minnesota growers.

This is the second year that Mill City Farmers Market has participated in the program, said Martha Archer, Mill City's Executive Director. This program not only benefits our local farmers and economies, but also gives people in our community affordable options to eat fresh, local, and healthy foods.

The Mill City Farmers Market, along with 60-plus markets, is also collaborating with the Minnesota Department of Human Services and the Center for Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) to enable SNAP recipients to stretch their benefits further with a special incentive called Market Bucks. The incentive matches EBT card purchases with up to $5 worth of coupons each market day that customers can use to purchase additional SNAP-eligible foods at participating farmers markets. The Market Bucks program can be used during the same trip or anytime during the 2014 market season.

We know many people want to make healthier choices for themselves and their families, but the challenge is making the healthy choice, the easy choice, said Janelle Waldock, director of the Center for Prevention at Blue Cross. Enabling SNAP recipients to use EBT cards at their local farmers market provides access to locally sourced fresh fruits and vegetables, which is especially important in areas where we find significant health disparities.

This year initiatives that lower barriers at farmers markets for low-income customers have the potential to be particularly valuable. The cost of fresh produce at grocery stores nationwide is poised to jump due to continued droughts in California. Items like lettuce, tomatoes and broccoli could see prices increases of as much as 20 percent in the coming months, making the locally grown produce found at the farmers market as attractive for peoples wallets as it is for their health.

The Mill City Farmers Market operates every Saturday from 8 am to 1 pm. It is located in Minneapolis between the Guthrie Theater and the Mill City Museum overlooking the Mississippi River. For more information on the market, please visit: millcityfarmersmarket.org.

Visit: z.umn.edu/farmersmarkets to see a full list of farmers markets across Minnesota that are accepting EBT and participating in the 2014 Market Bucks program.

About Mill City Farmers Market

Mill City Farmers Market inspires and nurtures a healthy community by building a local, sustainable, and organic food economy in a vibrant, educational marketplace.

About the Center for Prevention

The Center for Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota delivers on Blue Cross long?term commitment to improve the health of all Minnesotans by tackling the leading root causes of preventable disease: tobacco use, lack of physical activity and unhealthy eating. Funded through proceeds from Blue Cross historic lawsuit against the tobacco industry, we collaborate with organizations statewide to increase health equity, transform communities and create a healthier state. Visit www.CenterForPreventionMN.com for more information.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (bluecrossmn.com), with headquarters in the St. Paul suburb of Eagan, was chartered in 1933 as Minnesotas first health plan and continues to carry out its charter mission today as a health company: to promote a wider, more economical and timely availability of health services for the people of Minnesota. Blue Cross is a not?for?profit, taxable organization. Blue

Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, headquartered in Chicago.

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