Place-based economic development: examining the relationship between the US Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and farmers markets in Mississippi

Joseph Hampton Holland and Olivia M. Thompson

Community Development, 2015, vol. 46, issue 1, 67-77

Abstract: Placed-based development theory assumes that assets and liabilities within a geographical context matter for community development. Drawing on this framework, this article argues that the United States Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at farmers markets is an underutilized asset for community development. Therefore, community developers should explore this asset to better develop sustainable farmers markets. The authors utilized the US National Farmers Market Directory and the SNAP Data System to determine if SNAP beneficiaries had access to use Electronic Benefit Transaction (EBT) cards at farmers markets in Mississippi. The findings indicate that SNAP accessibility at farmers markets remains an underutilized resource for capturing consumer spending and capitalizing on the local multiplier effect. The authors recommend that policy-makers and community developers enact and implement public policies that will: (1) assist farmers and farmers markets with enhancing SNAP accessibility by installing EBT card readers, (2) establish local coordination that will assist in supporting the utilization of SNAP benefits at farmers markets, and (3) incentivize SNAP beneficiaries to shop at local farmers markets by initiating "matching dollar" programs.

Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/15575330.2014.991410 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:comdev:v:46:y:2015:i:1:p:67-77

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RCOD20

DOI: 10.1080/15575330.2014.991410

Access Statistics for this article

Community Development is currently edited by John Green, Rhonda Phillips and Anne Heinze Silvis

More articles in Community Development from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().