WIC & Organic Food - The Continuing Saga

On Monday, January 6, I attended a small meeting at the office of State Senator Becky Lourey, to discuss changes in the Minnesota WIC program. WIC is a supplemental food program, largely funded by the federal government, that targets low-income pregnant and breastfeeding women, infants, and young children at risk for nutritional deficiencies. In October 2002 the program discontinued allowing participants to purchase organic products with vouchers from the WIC program. The January meeting included representatives from the Minnesota WIC program, the MN Dept. of Agriculture, the MN Dept. of Health and representatives from three natural food co-ops.

Wedge has participated in the WIC program since the mid-90s. While it was not a big program here, we viewed it as a service to the community. Since October, we are no longer a WIC vendor because to continue we would be required to carry a number of conventional products (beans, carrots, eggs) for which we have neither demand or shelf-space. Our experience was that most of our shoppers who used the WIC vouchers specifically wanted to purchase organic products.

A number of Wedge members expressed concern about the change in WIC after it was announced on MPR in December. Senator Lourey also heard that story and wanted to get different parties together to consider options for restoring the organic option for WIC recipients. It quickly became clear that there is no immediate easy solution.

Due to the changing economy, the number of WIC eligible families is growing tremendously (7% in 2002). WIC funding does not increase with the number of eligible families, so the program is trying to stretch its funding as much as possible so no one gets turned away. They have gone into their administrative budget to buy food and are looking at a number of strategies to reduce food costs even further.

The organic products on the WIC food list can increase the monthly cost of a standard food package for children from $35.81 to $54.86, according to WIC program figures.

The cost of feeding two families organic food would cover three families eating conventional product. It would be difficult to justify turning away one family in order to feed two families organic food.

What happens next is somewhat up in the air. Senator Lourey will contact U.S. Senators Dayton and Coleman, both of whom have expressed a commitment to sustainable agriculture in Minnesota (Sen. Coleman is now on the Senate Agriculture Committee) to see what can be done on a federal level to increase funding to WIC. The WIC administrators at the meeting were very receptive to information about pesticide residue in conventional food and the effects of pesticides on children. Most importantly, a number of players with different concerns, but all of whom share a concern about adequate nutrition, were brought together to start a conversation. Stay tuned for further developments.