If you wanted to help Americans living below the poverty line not just have enough to eat but have healthy, local produce to eat rather than the junk food that’s so much cheaper in this country, you couldn’t do much better than the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program.

If you wanted to help small farmers continue to be able to make a living off their farms, rather than being slowly eliminated by agribusiness, you couldn’t do much better than the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program.

In 1992, Congress launched an innovative new program to help address these seemingly divergent issues by expanding the potential access of WIC recipients to the fresh produce offered at local farmers’ markets.  The concept was simple: Provide WIC recipients with additional coupons that could only be utilized to purchase fresh produce from a participating farmers’ market. (PDF)

In 2005, this program provided benefits to 2.6 million WIC recipients, and nearly 20,000 authorized farmers, farmers’ markets, and roadside stands received $23.4 million in revenue.

Women, children, and seniors get coupons for between $10 and $30 to use only to buy from vendors who raise what they sell.  A 2002 program impact report (Same PDF) cites a survey of 24,800 recipients which found that

73 percent of the respondents said that they ate more fresh produce than usual because of the program.  Nearly 80 percent of the respondents said they plan to eat more fresh produce throughout the year.

Given that rates of obesity and diabetes have been rising in recent years, and that healthcare costs have been rising with them, this is a good thing.  

Meanwhile, farmers report increased sales from the program, and sales that yield higher profits because the middleman is eliminated.

The big problem with the program?  It is, of course, massively underfunded.  In fact, it is frequently targeted for cutting, although defenders such as Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) have usually managed to save it and even occasionally win increases.  

But imagine if it was sufficiently funded, if Kentucky (PDF) didn’t have to restrict its FMNP program to 43 of its 120 counties.  Coupon recipients would benefit, farmers would benefit, and healthcare systems burdened by obesity- and diabetes-related expenses would benefit.  This is a model of the sort of program I’d like to see supported by a Democratic Congress.

Update: In comments, miriamsong links to a newly-created petition in support of the program, to be sent to Sen. Harkin.