Healthy Food Incentive Impacts on Direct-to-Consumer Sales: A Michigan Example

Bibliographic Details
Title: Healthy Food Incentive Impacts on Direct-to-Consumer Sales: A Michigan Example
Authors: John Mann, Steve Miller, Jeff O’Hara, Laura Goddeeris, Rich Pirog, Elissa Trumbull
Source: Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, Vol 8, Iss 1 (2018)
Publisher Information: Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems, 2018.
Publication Year: 2018
Collection: LCC:Agriculture
LCC:Human settlements. Communities
Subject Terms: Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Farmers Markets, Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Sales, Economic Model, Agriculture, Human settlements. Communities, HT51-65
More Details: Numerous interventions have been implemented at farmers markets across the United States in recent years in order to increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) redemptions. These initiatives include ensuring that farmers markets have the technological capability of accepting SNAP and implementing financial incentive programs that provide matching benefits for the redemption of SNAP benefits. While a main objec­tive behind these initiatives is to increase revenue to direct marketing farmers, it is challenging to distinguish between the impacts of distinct inter­ventions. This shortcoming is a significant deter­rent in understanding how to effectively implement policies that enhance such objectives. We examine the impact of Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB), a prominent farmers market financial incentive pro­gram, on county-level direct-to-consumer (DTC) agricultural sales in Michigan. In our models, we distinguish between counties with farmers markets that do not accept SNAP, counties with markets that accept SNAP but not DUFB, and counties with markets that accept DUFB. We also estimate separate models that allow us to distinguish between the presence and magnitude of DUFB on county-level sales. We find that offering DUFB and accepting SNAP benefits were each associated with positive and statistically significant increases in direct marketing sales, and the magnitude of the DUFB coefficient was greater than the SNAP coefficient. Our preliminary evidence from coeffi­cient magnitudes also suggests that the county-level increase in direct sales exceeded the benefit levels.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2152-0801
Relation: https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/566; https://doaj.org/toc/2152-0801
DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2018.081.006
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/08b856bb7f0549348b0843c4b4c525e3
Accession Number: edsdoj.08b856bb7f0549348b0843c4b4c525e3
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:21520801
DOI:10.5304/jafscd.2018.081.006
Published in:Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
Language:English