Skip to playerSkip to main contentSkip to footer
  • 5/12/2025
During a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) spoke about the farmers market coupon program.
Transcript
00:01Thank you very much.
00:03I want to recognize the gentlelady from Ohio,
00:06who, Madam Secretary, if you're intrigued by the idea of Buy American for SNAP,
00:11we might have a willing partner.
00:13I love it. I love it.
00:15The gentlelady is recognized.
00:16Thank you so much.
00:17Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome, Madam Secretary.
00:20We've not had a chance to meet, unfortunately, this morning.
00:25We've got three committees, all so important,
00:28and meeting simultaneously, and all of us are running around.
00:32This is not the way Congress should operate.
00:35I am willing to work late into the evening in order to allow,
00:38and I'm not blaming this committee,
00:39but the process that's been set up is very unfair to witnesses
00:43and very unfair to members, and I don't like it at all.
00:46So I will exit immediately after questions
00:49because I have to run to two other committees.
00:51It's not an intelligent way to operate the country.
00:54Well, I am always available.
00:56So if we don't get to it, feel free to call me personally anytime.
00:59My first question is an easy one.
01:01Does the Department of Agriculture still permit the Virginia and Maryland farmers
01:07to sell at the USDA farmers market to set a good example for the country
01:11to support local agriculture?
01:13I believe the answer is yes,
01:15but that's one question I have not had in all these days,
01:18so I will double-check and get back to your office today.
01:21That's an important one because that's setting...
01:22The answer is 100% yes, from the smart people sitting behind me.
01:25I want to help that, even though I'm in competition with the chairman of this committee
01:29because he grows in his district too,
01:32but the millions of people that go down that mall,
01:35that is our advertisement for local agriculture.
01:38I love it.
01:38And there's a truck they used to take around.
01:41I don't know if they still do that,
01:42but they had it hidden behind some bushes the last time I was over there,
01:46and I really think we need to showcase agriculture,
01:49and you are in a perfect place to do it,
01:51to the millions of people that visit this city,
01:53and I don't live here.
01:54Amen.
01:55But anyway, but that gets me to my point.
01:58I have fought for many years for the Senior Farmers Market
02:03and WIC Farmers Market program.
02:05We used to call it the Coupon Program
02:07because senior citizens know what coupons are.
02:10The younger generation is all, you know, electronic,
02:13but seniors know what coupons are.
02:14It was a measly amount of money, 50 bucks for those that qualified,
02:18and our Area Office on Aging conducted this program.
02:21We used to have 22,000 seniors,
02:24and this program is only a $20 million program.
02:26It's an embarrassment, but it's in the books.
02:29Okay, so we had 22,000 seniors who got $50 a summer,
02:33and I could tell you so many compelling stories
02:36of what those $50 meant,
02:37and they had to buy it from local producers
02:39and what it means to those producers.
02:41I am so worried we will not have a follow-on generation of farmers in this country,
02:46and there's a reason for it because of conglomerate agriculture
02:49that has squeezed out these local producers, local innovation,
02:53and it's wrong.
02:54It's wrong.
02:55These people work so hard,
02:56and they have so many ideas that are fresh into the organic producers
03:00that are coming along and so forth.
03:01So this program, just in my little area,
03:04I have eight counties, seven of them are rural, okay?
03:07150 farmers registered.
03:09We actually had a registry of local farmers.
03:12When these seniors would get these coupons,
03:14they could go to those 150 places.
03:16It was great.
03:17We had up to 150 farmers.
03:19You show me any other district in the country that's done that.
03:22And we had 22,000 seniors,
03:24and I don't know how many WIC recipients we had,
03:26but it was a lot.
03:27They'd go to the downtown farmer's market.
03:29Anyway, what USDA did,
03:32and I don't know why and I don't know who,
03:34but they decided to make it an electronic program.
03:38Do you know how many seniors can't use those devices?
03:42Yes.
03:43When they're sitting alone in their home,
03:47and for the farmers,
03:49I went out to one of our biggest produce stands,
03:52and I said, Mr. Bergman, where's the...
03:54He goes, I don't do that anymore, Farmer Bergman.
03:57Why?
03:57I don't want to get into that electronic stuff.
03:59I don't have time for it.
04:00Ma'am, this has killed the program.
04:0322,000 people, that doesn't count the WIC recipient,
04:06just 22,000 seniors in my area, 135 farmers.
04:09This year, we've only had 32 farmers register for the program.
04:12So, I am hell-bent on this,
04:15because if we don't do this,
04:16we're not going to have farmers,
04:17and they can farm in the city now.
04:19We've got examples of where we're doing that
04:21all the way from Manhattan
04:22all the way to Columbus, Ohio, and Cleveland, Chicago.
04:25Some of our new farmers are in the cities.
04:28I met a guy yesterday from Battle Creek, Michigan.
04:31Phenomenal.
04:31He was here with the Farmers Union.
04:33So, I'm just saying, I need help to help my people
04:36and to help whether they're the farmers
04:38or whether they're the consumers.
04:39Something is really wrong in Denmark.
04:41Yeah.
04:41And we need your help.
04:43This is the first I've heard of it,
04:44but we will look into it,
04:45and why don't you and I jump on the phone
04:46in the next day or two,
04:47and let's have a longer conversation.
04:49That's my only question.
04:50Thank you very much.
04:51Thank you so much, ma'am.
04:55The gentleman from Florida, Mr. Franklin.

Recommended