NEPM: HIP and Tuesday Market

Claire takes Monte and Kaliis to Grow Food Northampton’s Tuesday Market, where market manager Helen Kahn and farmers Sarah and Ryan Voiland of Red Fire Farm and Tevis Robertson-Goldberg of Crabapple Farm share why HIP (the Healthy Incentives Program) should be fully funded.

After the election, many of us are looking for meaningful actions we can take. Supporting HIP at the state level is a great one. Call the governor’s office and legislative leadership and urge them to fund HIP fully through the rest of the year. You can find contact information and talking points here.

HIP gives all households with SNAP extra money to spend on produce grown by local farms, helping them stretch their SNAP dollar and farms reach more financial stability. Until now, households of different sizes could spend $40 to $80 per month using HIP. Proposed cuts may lower that cap to $20/month for everyone starting in December.

“People have been pretty devastated,” says Helen. “At our markets alone, we had over 1,200 households use HIP, spending over $80,000. That’s $80,000 of free food for them, and it goes right to our farmers and local economy while allowing more access to this great food.”