The Kansas Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program is in its fifth year and going strong.
By Ariel Tilson
On Saturday at the Lawrence Farmers’ Market, Karen Pendleton is as busy as the bees that circle her intricate home-grown bouquets.
She barely has time to grab a bottle of water during the rush of customers, but she makes sure to get fresh produce to those who need it the most.
“Seniors know how to cook, so they appreciate the vegetables,” Pendleton says.
Pendleton, along with other farmers involved in the Kansas Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (KSFMNP), takes pains to make sure seniors are eating well. She says the benefits for both her and her customers are well worth the extra effort.
The Lawrence Farmers' Market Video: Ariel Tilson
The program is an initiative passed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide low-income seniors with fresh produce. It is designed to promote better nutrition among seniors and to expand the revenue base for local farmers.
According to U.S. Census Bureau results from 2000, seniors 65 years and older comprise 7.2 percent of the Lawrence population, compared with 13.3 percent of the total Kansas population. Not all seniors are eligible for the program, however. Their household income must be below 130 percent of the federal poverty level and already be eligible for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) or Commodity Supplemental Program (CSFP).
Eligible seniors receive 15 checks of $2 each from local helping agencies to exchange for locally grown vegetables and fruit at the Lawrence Farmers’ Market or roadside stands, such as Pendleton's Country Market.
Tamara Tiemann, nutrition and community service manager for the Kansas Department on Aging, said seniors should have no difficulty receiving their checks.
“They get the KSFMNP checks at local helping agencies that administer the Commodity Supplemental Program, such as the Ballard Center, E-KAN or Babcock Center,” Tiemann said.
This year, Tiemann said, the program targeted up to 7,470 eligible seniors in Kansas, with 200 of them in Douglas County alone, compared with the previous years indicated on the graph to the right.
Seniors enrolled in the program give feedback in annual surveys conducted by the Kansas Department on Aging and have mostly good things to say. Some respondents advised better publicity or an advocate program for immobile seniors. Of those who responded that they were enrolled but didn’t use their checks, 39 percent said it was because couldn’t find a ride.
Karen Pendleton says she hasn’t heard many complaints from seniors and that they seem to easily get rides from friends or family. Although her farm isn’t one of the bigger markets to accept checks, she says she receives at least $30 a week in KSFMNP checks. At a recent Saturday Lawrence Farmers’ Market she had already received $10 in checks by 8:30 a.m.
Pendleton values the extra support the program gives to growers’ markets like hers, and because she can’t give cash back when checks are used, she says she always makes sure to stick in an extra tomato or two.
She says the program only has minor glitches, such as the hassle of training online once a year or having to refuse seniors' requests to use checks on anything other than fresh produce. Farmers are also able to give their feedback in the program's annual survey and the majority, like the seniors, have responded positively, as seen on the chart to the left. Of course, Pendleton says she would love to give seniors her freshly made blue corn chips, but they usually understand that she can’t.
“That would be convenient, but we swear that we will follow the rules,” Pendleton says.
Source: Kansas Department on Aging and Graphic by: Ariel Tilson