Facing a funding shortfall driven by unprecedented demand, the Northeast Organic Farmers Association of Vermont has paused a popular local food access program, which connects low-income Vermonters with produce and goods at area farmers markets.
The program, called Crop Cash, was available to Vermonters who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, through which they receive money to purchase food at some stores and farmers markets. When people spent SNAP benefits at local farmers markets, they would receive a matching amount of Crop Cash, in the form of a coupon, which they could use to buy fruits, vegetables, herbs, culinary seeds and plant starts.
This year, the farmers association — known as NOFA — introduced Crop Cash Plus, which gave Vermonters additional crop cash to purchase other SNAP-eligible goods, such as bread, eggs and meat.
Crop Cash was meant to address a persistent conundrum: Across the country, environmental advocates often encourage consumers to buy local food as a way to reduce emissions from transporting goods and as a benefit to the local economy. Yet that option is frequently more expensive and out of reach for people with lower incomes.
The program — which is available to people whose household income is equal to or less than 185% of the federal poverty level, and to those who have children and receive Vermont’s earned income tax credit — helped to close that access gap, according to NOFA and farmer’s market officials.
This year, it also benefited farmers whose fields had been turned into lakes by nearly unprecedented flooding in July, according to Johanna Doren, local food access coordinator with NOFA.
Participants get Crop Cash coupons at a tent at participating farmers markets, where anyone can swipe a debit or credit card in exchange for tokens. There, they swipe their electronic benefits transfer card, tell the vendor how many of their SNAP benefits they’d like to use and receive a matching amount in Crop Cash coupons — up to $20 in Crop Cash and $20 in Crop Cash Plus for using $20 of SNAP dollars.
In a typical year, a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture covers the organization’s entire budget for the Crop Cash program.
But this year, NOFA budgeted $170,000, driven by a one-time state allocation to pilot Crop Cash Plus. Due to the surging demand, though, the organization ended up distributing twice as much — some $330,000 in coupons — which it paid for through additional fundraising, according to Lauren Griswold, director of NOFA’s food access program.
Participants used Crop Cash in 16,500 transactions this season, Doren said, though NOFA does not track the number of individuals or families that use the program.
“We thought that it would be able to last us through the winter,” Doren said. “But unfortunately, the rate of use was just a lot higher than we ever would have expected due to a lot of unforeseen factors.”
She thinks that demand increased because more Vermonters with kids became eligible for SNAP benefits. Also, some participants used the program even more as they dealt with financial consequences of the summer flooding.
As a result, participants will not be able to use any outstanding coupons already distributed to them, and no additional coupons will be distributed for use at winter farmers markets. The pause in the program took effect on Dec. 1 and will last through April 2024, which is the expiration date on the current coupons. NOFA ended Crop Cash Plus in October.
At least one manager of a local farmers market is unhappy with NOFA’s inability to continue the program through the winter.
Cassie Morse, manager of the Northfield Farmers Market, said some of her customers create their food budgets with their benefits, Crop Cash included, in mind.
“You print and distribute coupons with expiration dates on them, and essentially that makes them legal tender,” she said. “And then suddenly you’re saying it’s no longer accepted.”
The Northfield Farmers Market —which is online in the winter — has distributed $691 of now-unredeemable Crop Cash, Morse said. She’s frustrated about being put in the position of likely needing to turn away participants with the coupons.
Morse said she alerted her customers about the Dec. 1 deadline to use their crop cash, and as a result, received a bump in orders on Nov. 30. “People didn’t want to leave that money on the table,” she said.
Doren said she understands that the glitch is “incredibly disappointing,” particularly for people who have planned their budgets assuming the use of Crop Cash.
Participants have used 95% of the coupons that have been distributed this year, Doren said.
“I think it’s also important to underscore that we’ve distributed basically triple the amount this year through incentive coupons as we did last year,” she said.
Doren said NOFA expects the program to return in the summer of 2024, though the organization hasn’t decided whether to accept this year’s coupons during next summer’s season.
In the meantime, officials with the organic farming association plan to boost the program’s budget through additional private fundraising and to advocate in the Legislature for an allocation of state funding. NOFA is asking the state for $478,000 to support Crop Cash, Crop Cash Plus and several other programs.
That request could be a tough sell for state lawmakers, who also must contend with the financial fallout from the July floods.
“The bottom line here is: incredibly strong demand exists for this program from all involved (limited-income Vermonters, Vermont farmers, and Vermont farmers market managers), but the program simply won’t be able to meet this demand without a greater level of financial support,” Griswold wrote.
Asked whether the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets will support NOFA’s request, Secretary Anson Tebbetts wrote in an email that the agency is in the middle of the budget process and doesn’t know where it will land.
“We will know more in a few weeks,” he wrote.
