News Release 3-21-2002 |
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W.VA. AMONG STATES TO LOSE SENIOR FARMERS’ MARKET PROGRAM “We are very disappointed that the USDA has decided to cut this extremely beneficial program, despite the efforts of our congressional delegation,” said Commissioner Douglass. “I cannot begin to tell you how many positive comments I received from seniors across the Mountain State when the pilot program was instituted last year. The state received a tremendous benefit from a relatively small amount of money.” The state received $1.2 million for the Program last year. Douglass pointed out that other states will likely still reap the benefits of the program, and that West Virginia’s program was cut because incomplete application forms were mailed to the state. “I understand budget constraints as well as anyone, but you shouldn’t balance your books by inventing arbitrary ways to make certain participants ineligible,” said Commissioner Douglass. “After we found out the Program would not be funded, we were told, ‘the forms were on the website; you should have checked there.’ That’s simply ridiculous.” “It’s really a shame,” said WVDA Marketing and Development Director Jean Smith. “The review committee had nothing but good comments about the way we were running the Program. They were especially impressed with the way we distributed West Virginia apples through the ‘Meals on Wheels’ Program last year, and now we have nothing,” said Smith. “So many of our seniors grew up eating and loving fresh produce out of the garden. Now, they’re on fixed incomes, they can’t get out in the garden themselves and they have no way of getting delicious and nutritious West Virginia grown fruits and vegetables.” Virtually all the $20 billion in direct subsidies USDA paid farmers last year went to states producing corn, wheat, cotton, rice and soybeans. Nationally, 2.7 million people participated in the Senior Nutrition Program at an average cost of only $12 worth of fruits and vegetables per person. West Virginia provided $30 per person for the year. The senior subsidy was a pilot program based on the Women, Infants
and Children (WIC) Program that provided vouchers for mothers of
young children to redeem for fresh fruits and vegetables at state
farmers’ markets. Funding is still in place for that program,
but it is not administered by the WVDA.
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