On April 28, Kokomo Downtown Farmers’ Market (KDFM) Manager Adrienne Akers Partlow will travel to Washington, D.C., as part of her new role as a member of the national Farmers’ Market Coalition (FMC) Board of Directors.
Partlow’s election to serve a three-year term on the FMC Board of Directors is just one way she is using her experience as market manager to positively influence farmers’ markets outside of Kokomo and to increase name recognition for the KDFM. Recently, she led a workshop for about 50 market masters and managers on community engagement at the Indiana Farmers’ Market Forum. This is the third year Partlow has been a key presenter at this event. She also frequently presents information about the increased use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at the KDFM as a result of the USDA SNAP Support Grant awarded to the market in 2015.
Partlow explains that to her, “the most exciting thing about these new opportunities is the chance to show off Kokomo and our amazing little farmers’ market. I think so many of us here have come to assume that all markets are as strong as ours and provide the same kinds of programming, and that’s just not true. In many ways, our market is on the leading edge and I’m proud to have the chance to represent it and all of our farmers, bakers and makers, while also sharing the needs of local farmers on a national scale.”
During her trip to Washington, D.C., Partlow, along with other FMC board members, will participate in strategy sessions to best represent the needs of small farmers and the farmers’ markets they take part in. The timing of these sessions is crucial. Recently, the Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Mike Conaway, introduced draft farm bill legislation. The recently released draft presents the good, the bad and the ugly of possibilities for the future of farmers’ markets.
According to Partlow, the best of the draft bill provides an increase in the funding for Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Program (FINI) to $275 million over the next five years and names the program after former Farmers Market Coalition Board Member, Gus Schumacher.
“Unfortunately,” Partlow says, “the good news ends there.” While the draft proposes an extension of funding for the Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP), the funds will not increase from the 2014 farm bill. Many market managers and farmers had hoped to see an expansion of the program to include low-income veterans.
According to Partlow, the most unfortunate portion of the draft bill entirely eliminates important funding opportunities through the Farmers’ Market Promotion Program Grant (FMPP) which has been instrumental in growing farmers’ markets around the nation and in dramatically increasing sales at these markets. Given the success of the FMPP program there is great hope that the House Agriculture Committee will see fit to fix this oversight, and restore mandatory funding at the $30 million dollar level of the 2014 farm bill. Partlow is currently finalizing an FMPP grant proposal to establish a food hub in Kokomo, so the availability of funding is especially important as it impacts the future of the KDFM.
While the release of the House bill is an important step, the path to a new farm bill is far from over, and it’s unclear what that path will look like. The Farmers’ Market Coalition Board of Directors will work to forge a path that increases the SFMNP program and restores funding for FMPP. After a day of strategic planning, Partlow will meet with representatives from Senator Joe Donnelly’s office, as well as other legislators, to discuss various aspects of the Farm Bill and its possible impact.