A core component of MFFM’s mission is to make healthy, local food accessible to more people. In 2023, we introduced a new pilot program through partnership with the Maine Senior FarmShare Program that expanded food access options for older adults at the Bar Harbor, Kennebunk, and Sanford Farmers’ Markets. Eligible older adults who shopped at these three markets had the option of enrolling in Senior FarmShare at the market, and receiving $50 in vouchers that could be spent on fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, or honey at their market.
Collaborating with MSFP’s Program Manager, G Cherichello, and with organizers at the three pilot markets, we envisioned last year’s pilot as a natural evolution of the traditional Senior FarmShare model. Senior FarmShare has been a food access staple for lower-income older adults for decades; income-eligible people over the age of 60 (55 for Native Americans) can receive $50 worth of produce from a local farm of their choice. Our market-wide program reduces the paperwork burden for farmers, for whom enrolling and tracking the share values of their FarmShare participants is sometimes a daunting amount of unpaid administrative labor. Moving shares to farmers’ markets shifts this work to info booth staff and to MFFM; we are able to support markets with outreach, administration, and recordkeeping.
In 2024, we are thrilled to announce that we have invited nine new markets across the state to participate in the second year expansion of the program! Markets chosen for the expansion of the Senior FarmShare partnership are: Presque Isle, Houlton, Bridgton, Portland, Rockland, Dover Cove, Howland, Fairfield, and Skowhegan farmers’ markets. MFFM staff, Emily and Lucie, have been communicating with organizers of these markets about what this change will mean for their markets.
In general, the market-wide Senior FarmShare program is designed to fit seamlessly into existing info booth programs like Maine Harvest Bucks and Bumper Crop. Partnerships with community organizations, like public health nonprofits, senior centers, or libraries can further reduce the administrative burden for market organizers when it comes to enrollment and voucher distribution. MFFM is committed to making this expansion as easy and user-friendly as possible for market organizers, for vendors, and for customers.
This program expansion is still in a pilot phase, as MFFM works with markets and the state to determine best practices for efficiency and effectiveness. We are hoping that in 2025 we can open the door wide for more markets to participate in Maine Senior Farmshare.
If you’re a vendor at one of the nine aforementioned markets or the 3 original pilot markets, MFFM will be sharing some training materials with your market organizer soon to offer guidance about the program. Keep an eye out for these training materials. As a vendor at a Senior FarmShare market, you may be interacting with more older adults and making more sales to people in this demographic because of this program! Your responsibilities will be to:
- Know the different types of vouchers people may be using at your market, including the Senior FarmShare vouchers, and what each type of voucher can be used for (we have a cheat sheet for you, by the way!),
- Save your vouchers and give them to the info booth person at the end of each market, just like you would for Maine Harvest Bucks or Bumper Crop,
- Treat all participating customers with the same respect and patience you would treat any other customer, and understand that program participants may be as new to the program as you are!
If you are a vendor at a Senior FarmShare expansion market and you have specific questions about preparing for this change, you can reach out to Emily ([email protected]) or Lucie ([email protected]). We are so excited to be able to share the abundance of farmers’ markets with more older adults and to support farmers in selling their harvests to Maine’s senior population.