Missouri WIC/Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program

The Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) was discontinued in 2004 as a result of funding cuts. The General Assembly has recently allocated funding for the WIC-FMNP. USDA, Food and Nutrition Service notified Missouri that they had only $15 million available in 2007 to support the SFMNP. Missouri was informed by USDA that the entire funding was allocated to existing programs, and no new programs would be funded. The new SFMNP rule states that only agencies, which participated in 2006, were eligible for funding. Missouri did not participate in 2006.

There have been efforts made by other groups to address the issue of seniors and the farmers’ markets. Washington County Health Department, in collaboration with the local farmers’ market and participating farmers, organized a community wide effort to meet the needs of seniors. The group worked closely together to solicit involvement of businesses and locally funded a SFMNP in 2006 and 2007. It was a rousing success and may serve as a model that other communities/counties might use. If you are interested in learning more about this, please contact Shawnee Douglas at 573-438-2164. She will be happy to share information on what worked for them.

For more information, please contact Randy Walton, WIC Vendor Coordinator at Randy.Walton@dhss.mo.gov or by phone 800-392-8209.