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Nutrition-incentive pilots show demand and health impacts; advocates seek steady funding to expand Market Match and CalFresh fruit-and-vegetable benefits
Summary
Panelists described two incentive tracks—Market Match at farmers markets and a CalFresh fruit-and-vegetable EBT rebate at grocery stores—showing participants buy more produce and reporting health benefits; advocates urged stable multi-year funding to avoid on-off pilot cycles.
Two related incentive approaches received concentrated attention at the hearing: Market Match (California's farmers-market'based nutrition incentive program) and a CalFresh fruit-and-vegetable EBT supplemental benefit piloted at grocery stores.
Andy Nageries, chief executive of the Agricultural Institute of Marin and a leader in the California Alliance of Farmers Markets, described Market Match as a long-running statewide incentive program that doubles the value of CalFresh (EBT) dollars at participating farmers markets, mobile markets and community supported agriculture sites. Market Match tokens must be spent on California-grown fresh produce; Nageries said the program produced about $19.4 million in matched spending in 2023 and estimated tens of millions of servings of produce tied to small and midsize growers.
Eli Zigas, executive director at FullWell, summarized the CalFresh fruit-and-vegetable EBT pilot run in grocery stores and eight counties. The program rebated fruits and vegetables back to a shopper's EBT card (up to a $60 monthly cap) at participating retailers. Zigas said the pilot generated roughly $17 million in supplemental benefits across two short cycles, and surveys showed very high participant satisfaction: 95 percent of respondents wanted program expansion and 92 percent said it supported family health. He noted that much of the $63 million budget request for expansion would flow directly as benefits: "98.5% of it is budgeted to go straight into people's pockets."
Nut graf: Market Match and grocery-store rebates operate in complementary channels—farmers markets and grocery retail—but both increase household purchasing power for fresh produce, report strong consumer support, and create market demand that benefits California growers. Advocates urged stable annual funding rather than short one- or two-cycle pilots.
Operational and equity points: - Farmers-market incentives work best when markets provide a centralized EBT/token point so vendors without individual EBT accounts can participate; organizers perform eligibility processing and token distribution to reduce vendor administrative burden. - Grocery-store rebates require back-office EBT integration with retailers; the pilot showed measurable increases in produce purchases and, according to produce distributors, higher order frequency and volume to stores during active months. - Advocates recommended permanent funding lines and modest expansions to reach more counties and retailers; stakeholders noted the programs serve different customer preferences and retail channels and are complementary.
Ending: Committee members heard that both approaches are effective at increasing produce purchases and improving diet-related outcomes and that modest, predictable funding could scale them widely.
