The federal government has some good news: The dollar amount in food stamps people used to redeem produce at farmers markets rose to an all-time high—$18.8 million in the fiscal year 2014.
This number is six times the amount in 2008, when many farmers markets first began providing financial incentives to food stamp recipients to get them to buy fresh produce, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) study.
Scientific surveys show that people who live in low-income, minority, and rural communities tend to have less access to supermarkets and fresh produce than people in high-income neighborhoods.
The “food desert” phenomenon has real health effects: Blacks and Hispanics have the highest obesity rates among both children and adults, disproportionate to their respective populations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
