New York Plan Preserves Food Stamp Use at Farmers’ Markets

Food-stamp recipients will be able to use their benefits at farmers’ markets across New York state under an agreement the state and the Farmers Market Federation have reached with a mobile-application vendor.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote to federal officials earlier this month urging them to renew a policy allowing food-stamp recipients to use their benefits at local farmers’ markets. The Democrat took the action after the federal government notified the state that food-stamp benefits could no longer be used at farmers’ markets because of a technology change.

Cuomo announced Friday that the state’s agreement with the mobile-application vendor Novo Dia Group will provide uninterrupted access to farmers’ market purchases with food stamps.

The benefits are officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.