Recently there has been a strong push to offer more food assistance programs at farmers markets. The U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as regional non-profits argue that expanding the redemption of food assistance benefits at farmers market will improve access to healthy foods by low-income populations and support the livelihoods of small-scale farmers who sell at farmers market. Yet, as more programs are developed or adapted for delivery in farmers markets, little input has been sought from those who are ultimately responsible for their implementation. This study uses a qualitative approach to explore the experience of farmers markets that have been on the leading edge of adopting food assistance programs. Participant observation and in-depth interviews were conducted in six urban farmers markets to understand staff perspectives on the challenges and benefits of administering multiple new and evolving food assistance programs.The results show that even farmers markets with high organizational capacity experienced significant administrative burdens operating food assistance programs. In addition, most worried about the sustainability of these programs due to the high levels of labor that are needed for their support. The findings suggest that recent calls to expand food assistance programs to all farmers markets are not likely to be successful, as many will not have the capacity needed to operate such programs. Instead, targeting farmers markets that exhibit strong organizational capacity may increase the probability of successful adoption.
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