By Akeya Dickson, Washington Correspondent

NNPA News Service

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Buying a bagful of multi-colored vegetables at designer grocery stores can easily eat up a significant amount of one’s shopping budget. Cost-conscious buyers might be able to make the splurge, but it is not as easy for the millions of people who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, formerly known as Food Stamps.

To help ease the transition to healthier eating for millions of SNAP beneficiaries who live in food deserts, the United States Department of Agriculture announced last month that it is awarding $4 million in grants to state agencies to allow farmers’ markets throughout the country to purchase pricey point-of-sale machines. The wireless machines can process SNAP benefits, but can cost as much as $500.Christopher Headen, chairman of the board for the National Farmers’ Market Association, said that he thinks that a dynamic exists in some farmers’ markets where the technology’s affordability isn’t the issue. He said that there are some that do buy into the idea of exclusivity, and opt out of accepting SNAP benefits.

“My wife and I go to farmers’ markets all the time and we’ll often be the only people of color there,” said the former executive director of Meals on Wheels in Durham, NC “They weren’t being told that the food is great and inexpensive and there’s something for everyone. There’s this dynamic that dissuades people of color from coming to the markets.”

Headen said that helping to bridge this disconnect, and his relationship with SNAP benefits motivates him to diversify and expand the faces seen at farmers’ markets.

“It’s something that I really can connect with because growing up, sometimes that was our primary means to purchase things. I have a personal, deep connection to the SNAP program,” he said. “The farmers’ markets should not be a place that people with SNAP vouchers or limited income think of as out of their reach.

Farmers markets have seen a 400 percent increase in SNAP purchases since 2008.“It kind of saddens me really when you go to some farmers’ markets and you see vendors that sell fresh fruits and vegetables and honey and local nuts, and you see lots that have signs that say ‘SNAP not accepted,’” said Headen.