JONATHAN DEVIN - Special to The Daily News -

Farmers markets throughout Shelby County have no trouble attracting middle- and upper-class patrons who are health-conscious, but this year the push is to bring poorer populations to the table.

A grant awarded to GrowMemphis will provide economic incentives for food stamp users to buy fresh, local produce.

“It’s always a challenge – how do we get healthy food on the table of people who have the least access and who need it the most?” said Josephine Williams, GrowMemphis coordinator.

GrowMemphis, a program of the nonprofit Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, was awarded $6,000 in the first week of March by Wholesome Wave, a nonprofit based in Bridgeport, Conn. It’s part of Wholesome Wave’s double-value coupon program, which allows Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants to spend food stamps at farmers markets and receive double the amount for the price.

Wholesome Wave partners with 160 markets in 20 states, but this is the first award made to a market based in Tennessee.

Williams said use of food stamps has been sparse in Memphis farmers markets so far, and that currently individual market vendors are responsible for applying to accept food stamps and for getting set up in SNAP’s infrastructure.

But this year, three farmers markets are working toward accepting food stamps market-wide. Those three – Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market, South Memphis Farmers Market and Binghampton’s Urban Farms Market – will be the focus.

The Cooper-Young and South Memphis markets first opened in 2010. The Urban Farm Market, a partnership between the Binghampton Development Corp. and Christ Community Health Services, will open for the first time this spring. All were chosen because of their proximity to low-income neighborhoods.

GrowMemphis applied for $30,000, but was only partially funded. Williams said partners in the three markets will meet to decide how best to use the money.

“We are in the process now of figuring out exactly how we’re going to implement it, if we’ll be able to do the double program at all three markets, or just start at one,” Williams said. “Of course we’ll be looking for ways to leverage those funds and raise money to support the program locally, too.”

Maggie Reynolds, program associate with Wholesome Wave, said that GrowMemphis has a lot of leeway on management.

“It’s up to each program to decide if they want to match dollar for dollar or if there’s going to be a limit of $10 per day or something like that,” Reynolds said.

Most likely what will happen is food stamp users will be given tokens for set amounts, which they can spend along with their EBT cards. Vendors will then redeem the tokens for reimbursement from the market manager later. Ideally this will open farmers markets to new customers while increasing the health of poorer populations.

“We thought we’d go to the markets that had food access at the core of their missions,” Williams said. “(Food access) is not a sideline for them. I’d love to see every farmers market in Memphis accepting food stamps, but that’s a long-term goal. This is the logical place to start.”

According to the Food Research Action Center, just more than 1 million Tennesseans participated in SNAP in 2009, funded by $1.6 billion in federal dollars.

But while research in the area is sketchy, it’s commonly believed that obesity rates are high among SNAP users. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service issued a report in 2006 saying that use of food stamps appeared to increase body mass index in only one population: black women. Still the report found that “those who receive food stamps consumed more meat, added sugars and total fats, but did not consume more fruits, vegetables, grains and dairy products.”

That’s a sticking point for Kimberlie Cole, owner of West Wind Farms near Cookeville, Tenn., who sells meat and poultry at the Downtown, Cooper-Young and Collierville markets. High-quality meats, she said, do cost more than typical meats from the grocery store.

“Unlike going and buying a 30-cent piece of fruit, usually a package (of meat) will cost more, so this opens up the availability of higher-quality proteins that are produced without pesticides or any sort of chemical additives to people who wouldn’t have been able to afford it elsewhere,” Cole said.

The SNAP system for vendors, she said, is “clunky, but it works.”

Cole has to write paper vouchers for each food stamp purchase, call in the authorization and mail the vouchers in later.

Reynolds said she’s heard of technical issues from markets dealing with SNAP, but that overall the increase in sales makes up for the hassle.

“There have been some complications with the wireless software and sometimes issues with the EBT terminal company processing the data,” Reynolds said. “The vast majority do think it’s a great addition to the market because it brings in more foot traffic, increases sales and (vendors) get the benefit of the doubling because it goes into their cash boxes.”