Impossible. Vegetables are very inexpensive because they’re picked by undocumented workers underpaid and exploited by big industry. This keeps the prices way down, see. If we paid them a fair wage, only then would prices soar.

I commented on this, too. I’m sure a lot of it is that the areas with big open spaces for stalls to be set up in tend to be away from population centers. I wonder how hard/expensive it would be to start up some kind of shuttle service for this. Hmm….~musing~….you’d need maybe a big van, and some fliers, and lots of time on a Saturday morning… What do you guys think?

:P

Whoever wrote that clearly has zero experience with grocery stores in less affluent neighborhoods–The Safeway across from my house routinely stocks produce that’s rotten, moldy, inedible, etc. No surprise that if you go someplace that has edible produce–you’ll eat more of it.

I’m happy to read about this, but every time I go to the grocery store I think there’s a real need for dramatic changes in WIC. About half the people shopping at my grocery store use it, and it seems to have been deliberately designed to humiliate them and make going to store a pain for them and everyone else. Why, when we have EBT for foodstamps, does WIC still force people to run 3 paper checks through the machine and get a manager’s sign off? Why does it require low-income women to buy fruit juice we know is bad for baby’s teeth? Why doesn’t it discriminate between brands of cereal/juice and whether they’re on sale or not–Shouldn’t we let women who are savvy and buy the sale cereal or the store brand keep the price difference, encouraging them to learn smart budgeting long term? I DON’T begrudge these women the assistance–we should help them more–but couldn’t the program be made to work better for them and everyone else?

Btw, for people complaining about produce prices: Store brand frozen veggies are a great, often more affordable, option that lasts longer and is no less healthy than fresh. $10 is still too little, though.

Duh…because the prices at farmer’s markets are WAY lower than at the supermarket, and you can get a whole helluva lot more produce for your $10. F’rinstance, you can buy a 2-lb acorn squash at the grocery store for maybe $3, but could probably get one for a buck a piece at the farmer’s market. Savings go way up when considering something like fresh herbs, which might be a splurge at the grocery store (maybe $1.99 a bunch) but might be 2 bunches for a dollar at the farmer’s market.

I wish the farmer’s markets around here were easier to get to, though. The ones I know of are not located where the people who could really use high-quality, fresh food are located. (F’rinstance, the only one that is remotely located where people in need could access it — at the Food Bank/WIC office — only operates twice a year!)

On the plus side, farmer’s markets in New York State are able to accept food stamps despite the move from paper stamps to a “debit card” style of system. At the market I go to, I’d say around 80% of the stalls have “We Accept EBT” signs.