The Shiloh Farmers’ Marker is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Oct. 18, accessible by RTA bus #7 that has a route that goes to downtown Dayton and lets passengers off at the church. Free coffee is served at the gazebo and provided by the church.
A rotation of food trucks is also on site.
To encourage Direction Card users to give it a try, Shiloh Farmers’ Market is offering an incentive program: the first 50 EBT customers to spend $10 or more get $10 in free tokens.
For more information: shilohfarmersmarket@gmail.com or call (937) 687-3753.
Shiloh Farmers’ Market in Harrison Twp. has become the first farmers’ market in Montgomery County to accept SNAP benefits, according to Benjamin Johnson, deputy director for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services in Columbus. The program was formerly referred to as food stamps.
The market, at the corner of Main Street and Philadelphia Drive, is open Saturdays and located on the grounds of Shiloh United Church of Christ.
Christie Welch, Farmers Market specialist with The Ohio State University, says the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service estimates there are 311 farmers’ markets in Ohio. Of those, approximately 100 take SNAP. She said individual farmers can also apply for the designation.
Dayton’s low-income residents can use their Ohio Direction Card to purchase fresh food from local farmers and vendors, including fruits and vegetables, fresh bread, pastured meats and poultry, eggs, cheese, spices and food-bearing plants for their home gardens.
That’s good news for folks like Kimberly Tufts, who has lived across from the market for the past 18 months but could never afford to shop there.
“I’m on a very fixed income with Social Security disability, and I just didn’t have the cash to come to the Farmers’ Market,” said Tufts, 56, who now spends her Saturday mornings buying fresh lettuce, cabbage, red potatoes and baked goods from local farmers. “It’s wonderful that I can finally come here — I love the variety, and the people are much more friendly than in a grocery store.”
How it works
The process has been expedited for both the customer and the vendors: customers simply swipe their Direction Card at a central kiosk and are given wooden tokens that can be used at any of Shiloh’s seven vendors. Farmers turn in their tokens at the end of the day and receive one check.
According to market managers Zella and Stephen Cook, it’s through a USDA-sponsored program called MarketLink that their market was able to receive a free Point-of-Sale system that works through an iPhone app, along with reduced contract and processing fees for the first year. The new system also makes it possible for the market to take major credit cards from any customer.
“Allowing low-income people to access healthy, locally-produced food is not only key to addressing income-based health disparities, but it also directs public funds to local providers, who are more likely to keep the money in the community,” Zella says.
Before EBT, Welch said, farmers’ markets could accept paper food stamps.
“But when the paper food stamps transitioned to electronic benefit transfer, (EBT), there was no way for markets to accept them because most markets were in parking lots and the terminals had to be wired,” she explains. “You had to have electricity and a telephone.”
New technologies such as the new iPhone app or wireless terminals are allowing the markets to transition once again. Welch says the number accepting Ohio Direction Cards has increased significantly since her department started working with farmers’ markets in 2008. At that time only eight had signed on for EBT.
“I look at this as a win-win-win,” says Welch. “The consumers win because they get access to the locally-produced food that consumers want right now. Locally produced foods taste better, are better value, and help recipients participate in the local economy. The farmers get to sell more produce and then the community benefits because in addition to the economic impact that the farmers’ markets have, they also provide social benefits.”
Springfield is a model
One city that has taken the process a step further is Springfield where EBT recipients get double the money for each EBT swipe, thanks to the generosity of the community. It’s the second year that Springfield has accepted SNAP.
“We have anecdotal information that says that our accepting EBT increases traffic at our market,” said Bill Harless, executive director of the Center City Association, the organization that manages market finances. “We are now doing surveys to capture that information.”
In Springfield, area churches and religious organizations contribute funding that allows every dollar spent on an EBT card to be matched with $1 from the community.
“It’s incredible!” says Harless. “They’re not only able to stretch their food dollar, but they’re buying local and the farmers are getting more customers.”
Nutritionist/dietitian Bella Freeman, a teacher at the University of Dayton for more than 20 years, said that most farmers’ markets should carry healthier produce because fruits and vegetables have had a shorter time from the field to the market.
“The loss of nutrients can occur from oxidation, exposure to air, heat, and the opportunity to be contaminated in the transit time between field and table,” she explained.
Michelle Riley, CEO of The Foodbank, says her organization applauds the work that the Shiloh Farmers Market is doing.
“In the last 18 months, The Foodbank and the network of 85 non-profits they serve distributed over 2.2 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables,” she said. “The pantry system is seeing increased demand over the last two years.”
Shiloh’s process
The Shiloh initiative began with Dayton resident and SNAP recipient Amber McGuigan, who approached market managers at the end of last summer to ask about the possibility of introducing EBT. Now she is officially manning the Farmers’ Market Information Table. She said the application process involved getting approval by the Federal Nutrition Service as a SNAP retailer, and applying for the MarketLink grant.
“ When we moved to Dayton in 2012, I looked for a local food source and fell in love with this market — it has a wonderful, community feel, the church is so hospitable, and people come back week after week.”
In addition to the new SNAP program, Shiloh Farmers’ Market has, for several years, hosted WIC farmers’ market days. WIC (Women, Infants & Children) is a nutrition program that, among other things, aims to teach low-income people to cook and eat better. Once a season, WIC recipients receive vouchers that they can use at the market to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables.
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