SNAP benefits - once known as food stamps - are set to end starting Friday. President Trump announced he would stop the federal program during the government shutdown -- which no president has done before.
At one farmers market in Northampton, growers and consumers were trying to prepare for the coming hunger.
"This is huge"
The crowd downtown this past Tuesday had all the hallmarks of a brisk fall market. A musician serenaded shoppers, who wound their way around tents selling local fruit, vegetables, cheese, and meat.
But the bustle could not hide a rising anxiety among vendors and shoppers.
At the main market tent, organizers were helping people convert their federal SNAP benefits into grocery tokens - as they do every week. But this time, they were making sure each person would remain eligible for state food benefits when the federal program ends. That meant leaving a small amount of credit on their federal EBT cards.
“This is huge,” said Helen Kahn, who runs the weekly market for Grow Food Northampton. “Because obviously, you know, we can't compensate for that loss of SNAP funding."
Kahn said a third of all market sales are from SNAP purchases. She said low-income shoppers will continue to get local donations of food tokens, plus access to the state’s fresh produce program, called Healthy Incentives. But none of that will be enough.
According to the state’s website, SNAP brings in $210 million dollars a month to Massachusetts, serving a million residents, and the state budget cannot absorb that amount.
“So this is not only devastating to the people who rely on that money to eat. It's also devastating for the economy of our state and every state in the nation,” Kahn said. “Everyone's very afraid about it. A lot of anger as well.”
"It's just gone"
Jude Sidney is a 78-year old former costume designer. She lives alone in a senior housing complex.
“Because I'm a totally disabled senior, I've been getting SNAP since 2013,” she said.
Living on $12,000 a year in social security, Sidney says she relies on SNAP benefits for most of her nutrition - equaling about $3000 a year.
“It's just gone,” she said.
She had thought her age group would be protected from Trump’s decision to end SNAP in November, but she learned that’s not true. And she doesn’t know how she’s going to cope.
“Years ago I would have canned things or I would have cooked things and put them in the freezer,” she said. “I don't have the energy to do that anymore. I can't stand up long enough to do a whole recipe.”
Food costs could increase for everyone
Customers are not the only ones expecting to suffer without SNAP funding.
Rachel Robertson-Goldberg owns Crabapple Farm in Chesterfield with her husband Tevis. They sell vegetables at the market.
“Our income from SNAP usually is around 20 to 25% of our total sales,” she said.
And when fewer people can afford to shop at the market, Robertson-Goldberg said the effect snowballs, as they saw when the state temporarily reduced its fresh produce benefits last year.
“When people see a thriving market, they're more likely to come to that market – however they’re paying,” she said.
Karl Prahl sells freshly butchered chicken for Underline Farm in Easthampton. He said every local farmer will lose money without SNAP, but that’s not the worst of it.
“If we look at it a little further, we know that grocers, they're a high volume, low margin enterprise, and a lot of the money they rely on is coming from SNAP,” Prahl said. “So (supermarkets like) Big Y, Big E, they're going to see a big cut in what they sell….So we could see food costs increasing for everybody just to make up the difference from SNAP.”
State blames political gamesmanship by Trump and Republicans
Both merchants and customers say they are especially angry that the SNAP crisis comes from political gamesmanship. The state’s website explicitly blames Trump and the Republican majority. Although Trump blames the government shutdown – and Democrats – for his decision, there is a discretionary fund the government has always used to fund SNAP in the past.
“It's hard to look at the situation and pretend that this wasn't somebody's plan,” said Robertson-Goldberg of Crabapple Farm.
Even when the shutdown ends, and SNAP benefits resume, the federal budget bill passed by the Republican-led congress in July is expected to additionally reduce food benefits and eligibility for thousands of people.