Many local farmers markets in Washington state offer a $1 for $1 match to people who receive food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Called the SNAP Market Match, the program increases access to locally-grown fruits and vegetables.
Yet few people are actually using these benefits due to lack of knowledge that the program exists or lack of access to their local markets. For example, in Auburn, Washington, 17,661 people had access to this match program in 2019, yet only 188 households used it.
“That was a shocking number, to say the least,” said Felicidad Smith, a recent MPH graduate of the UW School of Public Health. “Increasing access to farmers markets is really important because when you’re looking at some of the top chronic diseases that a lot of people are dying from in this country, a lot can be related to nutrition.”
