Are you kidding me? This is nothing more than a pay out to non-profits to pay their staffs hefty salaries for "feel good" activities that accomplish nothing. How do you measure success for "encouraging people to shop at farmers' markets"? Notice the money isn't going to the food stamp recipients, it's going to organizations to promote the program. 32 organizations! Notice the administrative group got the big chunk of the money ($5 million), while the actual food bank got a whopping $68K. $16.8 million for 40 million on food stamps is just under $3 per person. So, guess what people, money's not going to the food stamp recipients, it's going to some fat cat do-gooder, running a non-profit or state agnecy and cashing in on other people's misfortunes.
Everyone has their hand in Uncle Sam’s pocket! And as you point out the money goes primarily to the government bureaucrats and the non-profits. So what it really is, is a RAT vote-buying scheme.