ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
With ever-increasing grocery prices a seemingly constant reality, consumers are always looking for ways to cut their food bill, and one of those means is through farmers markets.
A program matching dollars from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at farmers markets, farm stands, mobile markets and grocery stores in Kansas and Missouri helps to reduce those costs even further.
In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) and the Double Up Heartland Collaborative received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s NIFA Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP).
GusNIP is a national program that provides grants to support SNAP nutrition incentive and produce prescription projects across the country. This grant program requires a dollar-for-dollar match from non-federal sources.
In Kansas and Missouri, this is done through the Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) program, a national model which has three core components.
“One is financially struggling families are bringing home more healthy food and hopefully increasing their consumption of fruits and vegetables,” DUFB Program Manager for K-State Extension Erin Bishop said. “Our farmers and our communities are moving more perishable produce. They’re making more sales, and those dollars are staying within the local economy.”
Bishop said DUFB matches up to $25 a day of SNAP benefits at participating locations, with one of those being the upcoming Liberal Farmers Market.
Customers buy SNAP tokens with their Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card at a market booth with a machine, and these tokens can be used to purchase any SNAP-eligible items.
“A SNAP customer could spend $25 on their SNAP EBT card, and at the Liberal Farmers Market, they could receive an additional $25 in tokens for fresh fruits and vegetables,” Bishop said. “We match any dollar up to $25 a day.”
DUFB is available at some participating grocery stores, but Bishop said none of those are available in Liberal. She estimated the closest store is in Scott City.
“I coordinate the Double Up program throughout the state of Kansas at direct market farmers sites,” she said. “I do all of the farmers markets and farm stands and mobile markets, and my colleagues at Mid-America Regional Council in Kansas City coordinate it at participating grocery stores in both Kansas and Missouri.”
Recent fraud issues have developed with the SNAP program, but Bishop said those issues will not affect DUFB.
“We will still match the program,” she said.
Bishop said GusNIP is a piece of the federal Farm Bill, and current funding for Kansas and Missouri runs through September 2028. She added the grant is a 50 percent match, with the other half coming from private donation funds.
DUFB began at five farmers markets in Detroit in 2009 and is now available through local partners at farmers markets and grocery stores in more than 25 states. The program in Kansas and Missouri is run through the Double Up Heartland Collaborative.
Bishop said the number of locations taking DUFB in Kansas has grown substantially since the program’s introduction in the Sunflower State.
“When I started, I think I had about 14 farmers market locations in 2020, and we’re up to almost 30 now in Kansas outside of Kansas City,” she said.
Since 2022, there has likewise been significant distribution and redemption of Double Up Food Bucks at local farmers markets in Kansas.
Bishop provided the following numbers for those years:
• 2022 distributed: $89,917.57
2022 redeemed: $77,861.57
195 monthly reports (a count of a monthly report from an individual market)
“This number is quite high as many markets had additional locations in 2022 due to additional COVID funding,” Bishop said.
• 2023 distributed: $83,104.18
2023 redeemed: $74,754.18
186 reports
• 2024 distributed: $83,485.87
• 2024 redeemed: $82,113.87
177 reports
“This year had a bad drought and affected market’s staying open,” Bishop said.
• 2025 distributed: $90,866.05
2025 redeemed: $75,347.05
196 reports
Bishop said she feels it is important for SNAP clients to take advantage of DUFB.
“We have quite a bit of food insecurity right now in Kansas,” she said. “Additionally, food prices are surging across the nation, making it really hard to make those ends meet when it comes to feeding a family. I think it’s really important for A, reducing some of that budget stress, and B, also providing families opportunities to purchase healthy fresh food, which can also improve health outcomes and reduce health care costs.”
Bishop said DUFB is a great program, and she is proud of the partnership built with the Liberal Farmers Market.
“The farmers market puts a lot of work into promotion and outreach with the community, and we’re really excited to have this as an offering,” she said. “Also, they’re our furtherest west farmers market location, with the next closest location right now being Hays. They serve a really important geographical area that’s been underserved area for a very long time.”
Bishop also praised the work of Market Manager Debra Huddleston, Kay Burtzloff and the rest of the team for their work.
“I will also say the farmers we work with at those farmers markets are really passionate and helpful with the program,” Bishop said. “They’re great at educating the families and providing those families with fresh healthy food in a non-judgemental safe environment.”
Bishop said plans are for the DUFB program to continue to grow, with some of that growth possibly coming in the area.
“The challenge sometimes in Southwest Kansas is a market of produce vendors, which Liberal does a really great job of,” she said. “We’re connecting with a couple of other markets.”
In order to take DUFB, however, Bishop said markets need to have SNAP as a payment option.
“That is a USDA authorization process to become a SNAP retailer,” she said. “I’m happy to help markets through that process, but that is a major step a market has to take in order to be eligible to offer Double Up Food Bucks. That is a federal requirement.”
