The average material prices are listed by school year and used by processors participating in the USDA Foods processing program.
The Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) awards grants to states, U.S. Territories, and federally recognized Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs) to provide low-income seniors with coupons that can be exchanged for eligible foods (fruits, vegetables, honey, and fresh-cut herbs) at farmers’ markets, roadside stands, and Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs.
The WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) is associated with the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, generally known as WIC. FMNP provides women, infants, and children certified to receive WIC benefits with coupons that can be utilized for eligible foods (fruits, vegetables, honey, and fresh-cut herbs) at farmers’ markets, roadside stands, and community-supported agriculture programs.
This rule revises and clarifies requirements for the processing of donated foods in order to: Incorporate successful processing options tested in demonstration projects into the regulations, ensure accountability for donated foods provided for processing, increase program efficiency and integrity, and support vendor and state operability.
USDA Foods further processing allows state distributing agencies (SDA) and recipient agencies (RA) such as school districts to contract with commercial food processors to convert raw and/or bulk USDA Foods into a variety of convenient, ready-to-use end products.
This rule proposes to revise and clarify requirements for the processing of donated foods in order to: Incorporate successful processing options tested in demonstration projects, ensure accountability for donated foods provided for processing, and increase program efficiency.
Effective Oct.1, 2008, institutions receiving funds through the child nutrition programs may apply an optional geographic preference in the procurement of unprocessed locally grown or locally raised agricultural products.
This final rule incorporates into the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program regulations, statutory provisions set forth in the Farm Bill of 2008. The three provisions include adding honey as an eligible food for purchase with SFMNP benefits, prohibiting the value of SFMNP benefits from consideration as income or resources when determining eligibility for other programs under any federal, state or local law, and prohibiting the collection of state or local tax on a purchase of food with a benefit distributed under the SFMNP.
This document announces the approval date of the provisions contained in the final rule published Dec. 12, 2006 and amends the final rule to include the OMB Control Number assigned to the information collection burden.
This final rule implements the provision of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 that gives the Secretary of Agriculture the authority to promulgate regulations for the operation and administration of the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program, thereby making it a permanent program rather than a competitive grant.