Farmers\u27 Market Shopping and Dietary Behaviours Among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Participants

Objective Because farmers\u27 markets include a variety of fruits and vegetables, shopping at farmers\u27 markets would likely improve diet quality among low-income consumers, as well as promote sustainable direct farm-to-consumer business models. However, not much is known about how to promote farmers\u27 market shopping among low-income consumers. Therefore, the purpose of the present paper was to examine barriers to and facilitators of shopping at farmers\u27 markets and associations between shopping at farmers\u27 markets and self-reported dietary behaviours (fruit and vegetable, sugar-sweetened beverage and fast-food consumption) and BMI. Design Cross-sectional analyses of associations between farmers\u27 market shopping frequency, awareness of markets, access to markets, dietary behaviours and BMI. Setting Department of Social Services, Pitt County, eastern North Carolina, USA. Subjects Between April and July 2013, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants (n 205) completed a quantitative survey. Results Barriers to shopping at farmers\u27 markets included does not accept SNAP/electronic benefit transfer, out of the way and lack of transportation. Farmers\u27 market shopping was associated with awareness of farmers\u27 markets (estimate =0·18 (se 0·04), P\u3c0·001). Fruit and vegetable consumption was positively associated with farmers\u27 market shopping (estimate =1·06 (se 0·32), P=0·001). Conclusions Our study is one of the first to examine SNAP participants\u27 farmers\u27 market shopping, distance to farmers\u27 markets and dietary behaviours. Barriers to shopping at farmers\u27 markets and increasing awareness of existing markets should be addressed in future interventions to increase SNAP participants\u27 use of farmers\u27 markets, ultimately improving diet quality in this high-risk group