Low-income programs prioritize fresh produce

Low-income Iowans will have numerous ways to bring fresh produce into their home this summer.

A national program Iowa began utilizing in 2016, Double Up Food Bucks, helps families in need bring more fruits and vegetables into their homes.

According to the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative, “Double Up Food Bucks is a health incentive program that allows SNAP users to double their dollars, up to $15 a day, on purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables at participating grocery stores, co-ops, farmers markets, farm stands and CSAs across Iowa.”

The only permanent location Double Up Food Bucks can be used in Creston is at Fareway grocery stores. Creston Fareway Assistant Manager Nate Maiers explained how the nutrition assistance programs are connected.

“It’s just a little plastic card, and if a customer’s interested in enrolling, we basically link that card up with their EBT, their food stamp account, and then it’s activated,” Maiers said. “If they buy $10 worth of fresh produce on their EBT card, they can use the Double Up Bucks to basically earn another $10 for future purchases on fresh fruits and vegetables, so their dollars are going twice as far.”

While the card can hold up to $15 at a time, it doesn’t have to all be earned at once.

“If they came in and bought $5 one day and later bought another $5 and stacked them up, they’d have a $10 on the card and then they could use that to spend for $10 more on fresh produce,” Maiers said.

The Hy-Vee grocery stores in Mount Ayr, Bedford and Corning also work with the Double Up Food Bucks Program.

The Iowa House recently passed a bill allocating an extra $1 million to the program, while also restricting what foods SNAP recipients could purchase. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services is working with the doctors and USDA officials to make a food list limiting exactly what can be purchased with SNAP dollars.

Union County Food Coalition co-founder Michelle Wilson brought up another way low-income families can save money on fresh produce during the summer at the coalition’s April meeting. The Farmers Market Nutrition Program offers vouchers to WIC and senior participants to purchase fresh, locally-grown fruits, vegetables and herbs. In order to use these vouchers at a farmers market, the market itself must be certified with the program.

“We can work with [Alexi Groumoutis] to get the Creston market certified again so people who do want to use the Farmers Market Nutrition Program can,” Wilson said. “I think just to make sure the Creston market is authorized to use that again is important.”

Even when a market is certified, not all vendors will accept FMNP vouchers. Those that do accept the vouchers will have a sign displayed at their stand. In order to receive an FMNP voucher, a person needs to set up an appointment at their local WIC office. Each voucher is worth $5. Seniors can contact Connections Area Agency on Aging to see if they are eligible for this program.

Whether using Double Up Food Bucks, the Farmers Market Nutrition Program or just regular SNAP, low-income shoppers are an important part of farmer’s sales.

“Last year I did an informal survey of some of the producers there, and one farmer said about a third of their sales on any given week was through SNAP,” Wilson said. “They were like, ‘it is definitely worth our while to do it.’”

While it isn’t yet a sure thing that the Creston Farmers Market will be working with the program this year, producers are still raring to get started. The market is held from 4 to 6:30 p.m. every Monday from June 2 to Aug. 25 in McKinley Park.