SNAP Benefits 2022 is becoming more available for digital payments for buying groceries, with San Francisco-based company Forage announcing that it has been officially recognized by the U.S. Agriculture Department as an approved third-party payments provider for online transactions.

Digital payment is made possible with online Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program electronic benefits transfer payments.

Go Banking Rates reported that Forage announced in a press release that it became only the third EBT TPP listed on the USDA website. Forage earlier announced that it has raised $22 million in funding, which included investments from Nyca Partners, PayPal Ventures, and Founder Apoorva Mehta.

Gong's Market was the first merchant to be on the Forage platform. It is a family-owned grocery store based in California.

EBT payments made easier for online purchases through the use of SNAP customers is the goal of the Forage platform. It has provided grocers access to a $200 billion market and allows 42 million SNAP recipients to spend the payments online.

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SNAP Benefits Digital Payment

In July, Agriculture Department was seeking applications for a $5 million competitive grant to help expand the number of retailers that offer EBT payments online when shopping for groceries. The initiative will involve the SNAP EBT Modernization Technical Assistance Center to fund an organization to assist technology and systems needed to prompt SNAP payments online, as reported by Supermarket News.

Stacy Dean, deputy undersecretary for food, nutrition, and consumer services at USDA, said that online grocery shopping has improved access and convenience for low-income families. Dean added that the grant would improve customer service for SNAP participants, particularly those facing challenges when traveling to a physical store to procure goods.

Instacart customers in the U.S. can pay for online grocery orders that contain eligible items with a valid EBT card.

Several states have recently added online purchasing as a new shopping option.

Cyrus Huncharek, the senior public policy analyst at the National Disability Rights Network, said that online purchasing using SNAP benefits is even more important with the continued worries of contracting COVID-19 in a grocery store.

SNAP Benefits 2022

SNAP benefits will be automatically increased due to the changes in the cost of living, which is set to occur on Oct. 1, 2022.

The move comes in to help households of low incomes to cover their meals while also combating high food inflation.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities noted that the inflation report for July showed that inflation slowed down that month. However, prices for grocery food rose by 13.1 percent compared to July 2021.

SNAP benefit levels depend on the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan, which is a set of foods that represent a nutritionally adequate diet that low-income households can buy and prepare. The cost of the TFP in June 2022 was $939.90 per month for a family of four.

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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