Legislators vote to keep ‘lifesaving’ farmers market food program

After months of advocating by state and local activists, a critical food assistance program that boosts purchasing power at local farmers markets has a second chance at life. 

Over the past 15 years, the Market Match assistance program has supported millions of Californians, but in January, with the state facing a budget deficit in the tens of billions of dollars, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed slashing its funding from the state budget in 2025. Over the past few months, local farmers market organizers have sounded the alarm and brought public attention to the program’s benefits to both low-income residents and small farms.

Last week, organizers received some good news. The California State Senate and Assembly voted to reinstate over $33 million to fund Market Match through the California Nutrition Incentive Program. It’s a major step in the right direction, says Nicole Zahm, educational outreach coordinator for Santa Cruz Community Farmers’ Markets, but the governor still has to sign off on the budget in order for the funds to be reinstated. Newsom is expected to approve the state’s 2025 budget by the end of June.

“It’s possible that the governor will still decide to cut some programming, but it’s a really powerful step. It’s very likely that he will approve it and that it will be funded,” says Zahm.

Every week, Market Match allows thousands of people using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits – the modern equivalent to food stamps – to stretch their dollars at local farmers markets by matching a designated amount with additional funds. People receive their benefits via an electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card.

Currently, the program matches what participants spend at the farmers markets each week using their EBT cards, up to $15. So, for every $15 participants put toward fresh fruits and vegetables, the program will pay $15, allowing people to essentially double the amount of food they’re able to buy. 

Around 300 to 350 Santa Cruz County residents use the benefits every week at local markets, says Zahm. In testimonials gathered by the market, Market Match users describe the benefits as a “lifesaver” and “incredibly helpful,” and say that having extra money to spend on fresh fruits and vegetables at the market gives them a “better life.” 

“This program has saved my family. We literally would have starved without it,” said one anonymous Market Match customer. “EBT has been a lifesaver since my husband died suddenly. I have two teens,” said another. 

Zahm has worked diligently to preserve the program. Every two weeks, she participated in an advocacy phone call with other activists, many of whom worked with farmers markets throughout California. In March, she attended a lobbying day in Sacramento, where a group met with assembly and state representatives who have farms and farmers markets in their regions. 

She even reached out to Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas directly when she discovered that the wife of Pinnacle Farms farmer Phil Foster taught Rivas – whose District 29 includes parts of Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara counties – in elementary school. “We’re having the conversations with all the people that might have existing relationships to people in power, and might be able to reflect the value of this programming,” says Zahm.

Now, she’s encouraging the public to continue to voice support for Market Match to Newsom as he prepares to confirm next year’s budget. “We’re trying to flood the governor with messages about the value of the program so it might lean him in the direction of signing off on it,” she says. 

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