The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Administration (FNA) works to nourish those in need through financially sound programs that promote health and work, as well as champion the productivity of American agriculture. FNA plans to award the Mobile Payments Solution for SNAP Authorized Farmers, Cooperative Agreement. The purpose of this cooperative agreement is to create new opportunities to connect America’s farmers to USDA’s nutrition assistance programs. Specifically, the cooperative agreement is intended to enable SNAP-authorized direct marketing farmers (DMFs) and farmers markets (FMs), as necessary, to determine, at no or little cost to them, whether adding SNAP to their business model has a positive cost-benefit value. It also aims to provide SNAP recipients with greater access to American agriculture by allowing them to use their benefits to purchase foods from DMFs operating at physical FM locations and via other direct marketing avenues (e.g., roadside stands, pick-your-own), or through eCommerce platforms. The cooperator will use resources from this cooperative agreement to facilitate the development of a shared vision and set of approaches for supporting DMFs and FMs in becoming SNAP authorized; enabling the processing of EBT transactions through technology resources that include a secure SNAP Mobile Transaction Processing Application (The App) or potentially a secure eCommerce platform; and assisting farmers with direct marketing opportunities that result in connections with SNAP households and participants in other Federal nutrition assistance programs. FNA announces, through this Request for Applications (RFA), the availability of a maximum of $4,000,000 to be used over a three-year period for up to three awards as cooperative agreements. Only non-profit organizations and institutes of higher education are eligible to participate in this competition.

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