Lake County >> North Coast Opportunities (NCO) will receive $103,760 to help grow Market Match — California’s healthy food incentive program, run by the Ecology Center — at the Ukiah, Willits, Redwood Valley and Lake County farmers markets.
The money comes from the USDA’s first ever Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) grants, totaling $31.5 million announced by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on April 3.
FINI was authorized through the 2014 Farm Bill to help participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) increase their access to fruits and vegetables.
“This is a great opportunity to bring new shoppers that have not had an experience at a farmers market to do so in a very affordable way,” NCO’s Food Systems Director Miles Gordon said.”It brings federal tax dollars back to your counties.”
Market Match doubles SNAP shoppers’ buying power. Participating markets have EBT machines — like a debit or credit card processor — and SNAP recipients can swipe their cards, indicate how much they want to take out and receive tokens to spend at the market. There is no limit to how much a SNAP user can withdraw, but most markets limit the match to $10 or $15. So, if a customer spends $10 in EBT funds, he or she is given an extra $10 in market tokens to spend on fruits, vegetables, nuts and plant starts.
“Market Match is a great thing. We want fresh vegetables to be accessible to everyone,” said Cornelia Sieber-Davis, manager for Lake County Farmers’ Finest. “We’ve been doing EBT for years, Market Match is a newly funded version, but concept the same. More than $81,000 of NCO’s FINI funds will be distributed directly to SNAP shoppers. There’s a catch, though — to access those dollars, the markets have to “match the match,” or at least a percentage of it. That means that over the next two years, the four participating markets will need to continue to raise funds from community supporters.
Gordon said the matching funds can come from a combination of grants and contributions. Monetary donations will go directly back into the match program for SNAP recipients to use, and in-kind donations can also go toward matching program funds.
Nearly 240,000 food-insecure shoppers and 2,200 small farms will be supported through grant funds awarded to the Ecology Center in California.
“We’re thrilled with this vote of confidence from the USDA to expand a healthy foods program that’s steadily grown over the past five years, improving people’s food choices and increasing farmers’ sales,” said Martin Bourque, executive director of the 45-year-old Ecology Center.
There is real urgency around improving low-income Californians’ food choices. In a report to the Strategic Growth Council, the Health in All Policies (HiAP) Task Force states that “chronic disease, which is often diet-related, now accounts for over 75 percent of all deaths in California.”
The report goes on to explain that California’s low-income residents suffer disproportionately from diet-related diseases from lack of fruit and vegetable consumption.
“A thriving local food system and a healthy community go hand in hand,” Gordon said. “By partnering with Ecology Center and the Market Match program, community members in Lake and Mendocino counties will have access to fresh, local food that they might previously have viewed as out of their reach.”
Market Match is also helping local farmers’ bottom lines. In a 2013 survey, 80 percent of farmers reported that they sold more fruits and vegetables as a result of the Market Match program. And, 18 percent of farmers even reported that they were planting new acreage as a result of the program.
According to Ben Wolff, a Potter Valley farmer who has been a primary fundraiser for Market Match, “This program almost single-handedly keeps me motivated to continue farming. Even if the current status of farming looks bleak, this is an opportunity to symbiotically serve the broader community.”
Lake County Farmers’ Finest opens this Saturday at Steele Wines located at 4350 Thomas Drive in Kelseyville. The season runs Saturdays and Tuesdays from 8:30 a.m. to noon rain or shine through October. Anywhere from 8 to 15 vendors are at a market, and most of them sell qualifying Market Match products, Sieber-Davis said.
For more information about the FINI grant or to donate to Market Match, contact Gordon: mgordon@ncoinc.org, or 707-462-1955.
Visit http://www.lakecountyfarmersfinest.org/, call 263-6076 or email Cornelia@lakecountyfarmersfinest.org for more information on Lake County Farmers’ Finest.
