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