Farmers accepting Bridge Cards!

Like last year, we have created posters in English and Spanish that show which Farmers and Community Farmers Markets accept Bridge Cards.  I have attached electronic copies of the posters so they can be easily shared or printed off as handouts. 

This year's the posters are in color to make them more visible and to easily differentiate between farmer and community farmers markets posters.  We also show which farmers markets accept WIC Project Fresh and senior Market Fresh.

For 2013, there will be 50 farmers accepting Bridge Cards (up from 30 in 2012).  Therefore, it was necessary to make multiple farmer posters with one poster showing just Ottawa and adjacent counties.  I believe only these posters are the only resource showing farmers accepting Bridge Cards.  

Community farmers markets accepting Bridge Cards have many strengths. 

• They can be virtually a destination and offer a wide selection of products. 
• They can enable things like education and cooking demonstration. 
• Community farmers markets can offer the Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB).  There are other sources of information on community farmers markets accepting Bridge Cards like DUFB, Michigan Farm Market Association (MIFMA) and the USDA farmers markets listings but they don't identify community farmers markets where only some farmers accept Bridge Cards (8 in the area) and none of the 50 area farms. 

Farmers accepting Bridge Cards have many strengths too.

• There 50, over 2 times as many farmers accepting Bridge Cards than community farmers markets. 
• Markets on farms are often open 6 to 7 days a week usually from 8 AM to 6 to 8 PM.
• Therefore, farms are often the most convenient way for families to access locally grown health food, especially in rural areas as they are open many more hours  and days of availability/accessibility of local healthy food with their Bridge Cards and other food benefits (see attached).
• Markets on farms have the educational benefit of putting families and their children in contact with the sources of their food. 
• Finally, many farms are U-Pick and offer experiences like petting farm animals.

We are establishing a new web site that should be operational around May 1st that list all farms and community farmers markets accepting Bridge Cards in an 8 county area in West Central Michigan.  It will have search and mapping functions www.westmichiganfarmmarkets.org.

Please let me know how many posters your agencies would like for your agency and that you feel you could distribute.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Gordie Moeller
Food Security Advocate

2013 Farmers to the EAST
2013 Farmers to the East Spanish
2013 Farmers Markets
2013 Farmer Markets Spanish

Bridge Card Access at Farms