Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) FMNP-3 High Risk Farmer Identification Systems 1 Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention WIC Nutrition Program Effective: October 1, 2011

Policy No. FMNP-3 Revised: December 1, 2017

High-Risk Farmer Identification Systems Authority 7 CFR §248.4(a)(10)(iv) and §248.10(e); 22 MRSA §255 and §1951 Policy 1. Maine CDC attempts to identify farmers who are at a higher risk for non-compliance with the terms of their Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) Authorization Agreement and FMNP Policies. Farmers in the first year of FMNP operation are automatically considered high-risk. Other indicators of high-risk include, but are not limited to, the following: 1.1. Participant or State or Local Agency staff complaints or observations; 1.2. Suspicious patterns or volume of redemption; 1.3. A history of program violations/non-compliance; 1.4. Previous WIC, SNAP, or FMNP suspension; or 1.5. SNAP determination of high risk. Procedures 1. Maine CDC maintains a formal system for receiving complaints about farmers through the following: 1.1 A toll-free number handled by Maine CDC staff; 1.2 A standard complaint form that the complainant sends to Maine CDC; and 1.3 E-mail. 2. In its high-risk vendor analysis, Maine CDC shall use: 2.1 Participant complaints; and 2.2 A three-month aggregate of the vendor’s redemptions. 3. Farmer redemption patterns are compared to patterns of other farmers. 4. The Maine CDC shall identify high-risk farmers and generate high-risk farmer reports at least once per year.