Groups that fight hunger are calling for a fair shake in the upcoming farm bill, which provides federal matching funds for programs that help low-income families afford fresh produce.
The Market Match program gives people on Cal Fresh about $15 per market per day to spend at 270 sites across the state.
Minni Forman is the food and farming program director at the nonprofit Ecology Center in Berkeley, which runs Market Match.
“In 2022, there were 500,000 transactions,” said Forman. “Almost $20 million in CalFresh and Market Match spending, primarily going back to small and mid-size farmers. So, this program has massive impacts for CalFresh shoppers, for farmers and for market operators.”
The current Farm Bill expired September 30 and negotiations are ongoing for a new bill to cover the next five years.
Groups such as the Farmers Market for All Coalition and the Alliance for California Farmers Markets are asking Congress to fund programs such as Market Match across the country.
Andy Naja-Riese is CEO of the nonprofit Agricultural Institute of Marin (AIM), which runs farmers markets.
He said the feds need to prioritize programs with proven results and not make them compete for funds with newer programs.
“We’re advocating for our elected officials to support this tiered approach,” said Naja-Riese, “so that programs like in California and across the country can continue to operate successful innovative programs like Market Match.”
On Sunday October 15, anti-hunger groups gathered at AIM’s Clement Street market in San Francisco on its tenth anniversary, to honor Assemblyman Phil Ting – D-San Francisco – who wrote the bill in 2015 that led to the creation of the Market Match program.
Ting said there’s enough money to keep it going – for now.
“With the Market Match program,” said Ting, “we did the $35 million this last year’s budget to hopefully get us through one or two more years before we have to ask for more money.”
