{"id":85007,"date":"2018-09-21T09:35:58","date_gmt":"2018-09-21T19:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=85007"},"modified":"2020-01-31T13:37:51","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T23:37:51","slug":"farmers-markets-snap-debit-cards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2018\/09\/21\/farmers-markets-snap-debit-cards\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers encourage more farmers\u2019 markets to accept SNAP<\/abbr> debit cards"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Opal Vanessa Buchthal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The heaps of fresh vegetables and tropical fruits stacked high on tables at local farmers’ markets could be a boon to the health of Hawaiʻi<\/span> families. But in many cases, those who could benefit most from the healthy fare may be missing out, according to a new study led by public health researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at M\u0101noa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Opal Vanessa Buchthal<\/strong><\/a>, an assistant professor with the 东精影业<\/abbr> Office of Public Health Studies<\/a>, led team members who mapped out farmers’ markets on Oʻahu<\/span> using a geographic information system spatial analysis. The researchers then looked at which farmers’ markets were equipped to accept debit cards through the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP<\/abbr>), and the number of people with SNAP<\/abbr> benefits in nearby neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

They found that, while 75 percent of low-income families on Oʻahu<\/span> live near a farmers’ market, only nine of the 55 markets accept SNAP<\/abbr> debit cards.<\/p>\n

“People with limited resources tend to have higher rates of chronic diseases, and also may have a difficult time finding affordable, healthy food close to where they live,” Buchthal said. “Farmers’ markets are a great way to increase access to food, but there is one more step that’s needed to help families: to equip the markets to accept SNAP<\/abbr> debit cards.”<\/p>\n

The researchers calculated that if farmers’ markets in just six specific neighborhoods were to start accepting the debit cards, two-thirds of Oʻahu<\/span>‘s SNAP<\/abbr> participants would benefit. The six neighborhoods include five locations in urban Honolulu (Liliha, Downtown\/Fort Street, Lower Makiki\/Punchbowl, Ala Moana\/Rycroft and M\u014diliʻili<\/span>\/McCully), and one location on the (P\u014dkaʻi<\/span>coast Bay\/Lualualei Beach Park).<\/p>\n

“Equipping these six markets to accept SNAP<\/abbr> cards would substantially improve access to healthy foods for the county’s low-income residents,” Buchthal said.<\/p>\n

The study was published August 29 in Public Health Nutrition<\/em><\/a>. Buchthal’s co-authors on the study were Denise Nelson-Hurwitz<\/strong><\/a>, who is also an assistant professor with the 东精影业<\/abbr> Office of Public Health Studies; Grace Wolff<\/strong>, a graduate student with the 东精影业<\/abbr> Department of Urban and Regional Planning<\/a>; and Daniela Kittinger and Danielle Schaeffner at the state Department of Health.<\/p>\n

—By Theresa Kreif<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opal Vanessa Buchthal in the Office of Public Health Studies and her team use spatial analysis to examine the best placement of electronic benefit transfer services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[165,241,449,596,9],"class_list":["post-85007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-health","tag-public-health","tag-public-health-sciences","tag-myron-b-thompson-school-of-social-work","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85007"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110407,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85007\/revisions\/110407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}