Examining the Utilization of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - Market Match Incentive Program at the Eau Claire Farmers’ Market Before and During the COVID Pandemic : Part I & 2

Abstract

Food insecurity, including low fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption is a significant issue facing many American families. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides benefits to help low-income families meet their food and nutrition needs. Farmers’ markets (FM) provide access to many fresh, local and healthy foods, especially FV, but low-income households using food assistance programs are much less likely to shop at FM. The Eau Claire Farmers’ Market (ECFM) offers a Market Match Program (MMP) to incentivize SNAP participants to shop at the market. In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 increased the number of families facing food insecurity. Additionally, the ECFM faced many challenges regarding how to operate safely while households also faced uncertainty and decisions about where/when to shop for food during the ongoing pandemic. This presentation employs administrative data to compare the usage of the ECFM-MMP by SNAP households before and during the pandemic. These data show that approximately 90% of eligible SNAP households never use the ECFM-MMP, while approximately 50% of SNAP households using the ECFM-MMP only shopped at the ECFM one time per season. In 2021, we conducted surveys of SNAP shoppers at the ECFM (N=149) as well as EC County SNAP households that did not shop at the ECFM (N=240) to identify barriers that limited/prevented people from using the ECFM-MMP as well as what factors might increase their ability to shop using SNAP benefits at the ECFM. Our complete story from this ongoing research work is presented over two posters.