{"id":2857,"date":"2025-02-13T17:58:25","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T00:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/?p=2857"},"modified":"2025-02-13T17:58:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T00:58:25","slug":"shewmake-bill-to-expand-nutrition-access-establish-mobile-farmers-market-program-passes-senate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/02\/13\/shewmake-bill-to-expand-nutrition-access-establish-mobile-farmers-market-program-passes-senate\/","title":{"rendered":"Shewmake Bill To Expand Nutrition Access, Establish Mobile Farmers Market Program Passes Senate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>OLYMPIA <\/strong>\u2013 The expansion of mobile markets could see seniors and other food benefit recipients with new ways to access fresh fruits and vegetables. A bill to expand nutrition access by establishing a mobile farmers market program in Washington passed the Senate unanimously Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/BillSummary\/?BillNumber=5214&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=false\">Senate Bill 5214<\/a>, sponsored by Sen. Sharon Shewmake (D-Bellingham), would direct the Department of Health (DOH) to establish a mobile markets program to expand nutrition access for participants of the Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program (WIC) and the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP), contingent on funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Currently, mobile markets cannot accept WIC and SFMNP benefits. The program would empower DOH to request a USDA waiver to allow acceptance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are <a href=\"https:\/\/ccwa.doh.wa.gov\/search\/e49fa5e5-0e70-53cc-937b-688aa6530fcd\">several<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/coastalharvest.us\/programs\/mobile-market\/\">great<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.farestart.org\/food-security\/mobile-market\/\">mobile farmers markets<\/a> in Washington state working to provide our communities with nutritious, fresh food. \u00a0Twin Sisters Market in Whatcom County informed me that they cannot accept WIC and SFMNP benefits. They\u2019re prevented from helping the communities most in need,\u201d Shewmake said. \u201cThese mobile markets do essential work aggregating fresh food from local farmers and bringing it to food deserts, especially in rural and underserved communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mobile markets are farmers&#8217; markets on wheels, using vans or large vehicles to connect farmers with communities that have limited access to local produce. The Mobile Markets Coalition\u2019s mobile market <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobilemarketcoalition.org\/uploads\/9\/7\/5\/5\/97554626\/mobile_market_impact_report_2022_final__1_.pdf\">survey<\/a> found that 83% of responding markets source food from within their own state and 53% source from within their own county.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation requires eligible mobile markets to be operated by non-profits. DOH must also ensure they do not compete with farmers&#8217; markets already participating in the Federal Market Nutrition Program.<\/p>\n<p>Follow the bill\u2019s progress <a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/BillSummary\/?BillNumber=5214&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=false\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OLYMPIA \u2013 The expansion of mobile markets could see seniors and other food benefit recipients with new ways to access fresh fruits and vegetables. A bill to expand nutrition access by establishing a mobile farmers market program in Washington passed the Senate unanimously Wednesday. Senate Bill 5214, sponsored by Sen. Sharon Shewmake (D-Bellingham), would direct the Department of Health (DOH) to establish a mobile markets program to expand nutrition access for participants of the Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program (WIC) and the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP), contingent on funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":2557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-release"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Shewmake Bill To Expand Nutrition Access, Establish Mobile Farmers Market Program Passes Senate - Sen. Sharon Shewmake<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/02\/13\/shewmake-bill-to-expand-nutrition-access-establish-mobile-farmers-market-program-passes-senate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shewmake Bill To Expand Nutrition Access, Establish Mobile Farmers Market Program Passes Senate - Sen. Sharon Shewmake\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OLYMPIA \u2013 The expansion of mobile markets could see seniors and other food benefit recipients with new ways to access fresh fruits and vegetables. A bill to expand nutrition access by establishing a mobile farmers market program in Washington passed the Senate unanimously Wednesday. Senate Bill 5214, sponsored by Sen. Sharon Shewmake (D-Bellingham), would direct the Department of Health (DOH) to establish a mobile markets program to expand nutrition access for participants of the Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program (WIC) and the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP), contingent on funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)....\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/02\/13\/shewmake-bill-to-expand-nutrition-access-establish-mobile-farmers-market-program-passes-senate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sen. 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Sharon Shewmake (D-Bellingham), would direct the Department of Health (DOH) to establish a mobile markets program to expand nutrition access for participants of the Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program (WIC) and the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP), contingent on funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)....","og_url":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/shewmake\/2025\/02\/13\/shewmake-bill-to-expand-nutrition-access-establish-mobile-farmers-market-program-passes-senate\/","og_site_name":"Sen. 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