Gives You More Opportunity and Decreases Out-of-Pocket Expenses
In the times of COVID, SNAP becomes more important than ever. Thousands have lost their jobs, food shortages hamper the supermarkets, with rising prices. USDA has responded by increasing SNAP benefits in the short term. There are also changes in the program to benefit farmers and farmers markets already in the SNAP program.
USDA has made it easier than ever to be a part of the SNAP program. This year, USDA is once again funding MarketLink to help farmers markets and direct marketing farmers to join the SNAP program. This is an opportunity to reach those in your community who are now hurting because of the pandemic. Give them access to fresh, healthy local food by making your food accessible to SNAP users. Contact the Federation office to join SNAP. We will help you through the process and get you started. Call 315-400-1447 or email deggert@nyfarmersmarket.com.
Another change to the program is that Novo Dia has rolled out a new, updated app to accept SNAP through your mobile phones. The current Mobile Market Plus app is being phased out in favor of TotilPay Go. The new app will increase functionality as new opportunities are rolled out. You will need to make the changeover manually, by starting here.
For those already in the SNAP program, there some new options for you that could save you some out-of-pocket costs.
Through Novo Dia, you now have the opportunity to change your SNAP processor from WorldPay to Novo Dia. Currently WorldPay charges 15 cents per SNAP transaction. However, Novo Dia does not charge for SNAP processing, but, instead, wraps those fees in your Mobile Market Plus license fee. So there will be no additional charges. To make the changeover, begin the process here.
Another significant change this year is an opportunity to choose a debit/credit processor. In the past, the only option was WorldPay. But now you can opt for Square as your processor, if you would like. The pro side of Square is that you will not be charged an annual processing fee, just a discount fee on your sales. The downside to Square is that it does require a unique card reader. So you would need both a card reader for SNAP and a separate card reader for Square. It is your choice to use either WorldPay or Square for your debit/credit processing. If you choose to go with Square, you can begin the process by applying for Square processing directly with Square. Then contact Novo Dia to initiate Square on your TotilPay account at support@novodiagroup.com.