Electronic Benefit Transfer payment at farmers markets

Enabling Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) payment at farmers markets is a suggested strategy to increase access to fruits and vegetables (IOM-Government obesity prevention 2009, CDC-Fruits and vegetables 2011, USDA-Karakus 2014, Holland 2015). Multiple surveys and interviews suggest that accepting EBT at farmers markets would remove a barrier to fruit and vegetable consumption for consumers with low incomes and increase access to fruits and vegetables for card holders (Zhao 2020, Jilcott Pitts 2015, Young 2011, Jones 2011, IATP-EBT 2010, Hood 2012, Leone 2012). Available survey data also suggest that the introduction of EBT card readers is associated with increased use of farmers markets among SNAP participants (Woodruff 2018). Early research associates EBT access with increased fruit and vegetable purchases (Breck 2017) and consumption (Robles 2017, Jilcott Pitts 2020). A New York City-based study of Green Carts associates higher spending on fruits and vegetables at carts that accept EBT than at cash only carts (Breck 2015). However, additional evidence is needed to demonstrate the effects of EBT acceptance at farmers markets.

Cost of operating EBT varies depending on whether markets accept EBT only or EBT and debit or credit cards. Costs also vary for equipment rental or purchases, transaction fees, monthly service plans, staff time, advertising expenses, and supplies (FMC-SNAP EBT). A pilot study associated individual wireless EBT terminals for each farmers market vendor with a 38% sales increase over the sales with one centrally located terminal per farmers market; however, this increase did not offset the cost of having a terminal for each vendor (Buttenheim 2012). In some cases, farmers markets accepting EBT have increased total revenue (Hasin 2014, Krokowski 2014), although individual vendor sales vary (Krokowski 2014).

Instruction and technical assistance are often needed to help farmers become authorized SNAP retailers and implement the EBT payment processing system (Franck 2023, Kellegrew 2018). Subsidies to reduce the cost of EBT terminals as well as marketing and outreach to individuals who are eligible for SNAP may be needed to increase both farmers market and consumer participation (Cole 2013). Farmers market managers may be more willing to adopt EBT systems when given an opportunity to try before purchasing (Hasin 2016). Farmers markets with successful food assistance programs have external resources, strong market leadership, and support from formal and informal networks that help address the heavy administrative burden associated with meeting requirements for EBT acceptance and other food assistance programs (Mino 2018). Community partnerships can support EBT at farmers markets by obtaining funding, developing operating procedures, and promoting availability (Roubal 2016). One Hawaii-based study suggests that higher levels of community engagement and informal marketing are associated with increased EBT usage (Wolff 2020).

Combining EBT access and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) programs may increase the overall amount of produce purchased at the market, and help participants select, store, and prepare larger amounts of local produce (Savoie-Roskos 2016). Access to EBT payment at farmers markets may support local, seasonal eating among participants and more cooking from scratch, which may reduce emissions from fossil fuels used to produce, process, and transport food (Ringling 2020, Stone 2021, CCAFS-Campbell 2012). Farmers market shopping with EBT payment may also reduce the energy intensity of an individual’s diet if more plant-based foods are consumed in place of animal products (Ringling 2020).

Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) payment at farmers markets is designed to decrease disparities in access to fruit and vegetables between people with low incomes who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and those with higher incomes. Disparities in access to food – especially affordable, healthy foods and fresh produce – exist between communities in the U.S. by race and income (Beaulac 2009, Walker 2010b). EBT at farmers markets has the potential to decrease those disparities among SNAP-eligible program participants by increasing options for SNAP benefit redemption. However, because individuals must apply for SNAP, some eligible individuals do not receive assistance (PolicyLink-Flournoy 2005).

Nationwide, many farmers markets that accept EBT benefits have been started and sustained in communities with low incomes to improve access to fresh, healthy foods, despite the challenges involved (PolicyLink-Flournoy 2005). However, other farmers markets are not accessible or inclusive for SNAP recipients, leading to additional redemption barriers. Overall, farmers markets can be exclusionary towards people of color and people with low incomes (Freedman 2016a, He 2022) and many consumers and managers of farmers markets tend to be white, educated, and affluent (Warsaw 2021). Navigating the EBT authorization process, installing EBT machines, and maintaining an EBT program can be time-intensive and costly for farmers markets; farmers market vendors and managers may be reluctant to implement EBT if they perceive a small SNAP customer base (Franck 2023, Kellegrew 2018).

Throughout U.S. history, discriminatory housing, lending, and exclusionary zoning policies entrenched racial residential segregation and concentrated poverty (Zdenek 2017, Kaplan 2007). This systemic disinvestment and exclusion by both government and private entities created and maintains community environments with limited resources, deteriorating infrastructure, hazardous industries and waste disposal sites, and many other factors that lead to poorer health outcomes for people of color and people with low incomes (Braveman 2022, Prochnow 2022, McAndrews 2022, Brookings-Semmelroth 2020). Communities shaped by discriminatory policies are often areas that have limited access to healthy and affordable food, formerly known as “food deserts” (Beaulac 2009, Walker 2010b). Individuals who live in these communities face higher food costs, fewer store options, and must travel further to purchase healthy food than those who live in well-resourced communities (Beaulac 2009). Residents also have increased exposure to high calorie foods that have little nutritional value which often leads to worse health outcomes (Walker 2010b).

Congress has created many policies that address food and nutrition in the U.S. based on both agriculture industry interests and anti-hunger efforts for people with low incomes. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) originated in temporary food stamp programs designed to alleviate hunger while also creating a market for food supplies deemed to be surplus by the Department of Agriculture. The Food Stamp Program (FSP) became a permanent program with the Food Stamp Act of 1964 and the program retained its dual purpose of improving nutrition for households with low incomes and supporting the agriculture industry (SNAP-History). The FSP evolved into SNAP with many variations in funding levels, priorities, and Congressional directives along the way (SNAP-History). Prior to 1996, SNAP benefits were commonly distributed in the form of paper vouchers which could easily be accepted at farmers markets. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) mandated that all programs use EBT systems to distribute benefits (SNAP-History). EBT systems require infrastructure, such as telephone lines and electricity, that is not found at many farmers markets and SNAP redemption at farmers markets declined sharply as a result (Grace 2007).

• Who in your community receives SNAP? Who is eligible for SNAP and does not receive it? How can your community improve outreach to increase SNAP participation among eligible non-participants?
• What farmers markets are available to people who receive SNAP in your community? Where are they located and when are they open? How are farmers markets and SNAP being promoted in your community?
• Who decides if EBT will be implemented in your community? What barriers do individual farmers and markets in your area face when becoming an authorized SNAP retailer?

As of January 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service, over 3,100 farmers markets are authorized to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits (USDA-FNS accepting SNAP). Some municipalities require farmers markets to accept EBT (e.g., San Francisco) (SF Farmers Markets) and several state legislatures have enacted legislation to support using EBT machines at farmers markets (e.g., California, Indiana, and Massachusetts) (NCSL-Farmers market, Hood 2012). Many farmers markets that accept EBT report increases in SNAP benefit redemption, including Philadelphia Food Trust farmers’ markets (Philadelphia Food Trust) and NYC Greenmarket program (Grow NYC).

In 2013, the USDA partnered with the National Association of Farmers Market Nutrition Programs to establish MarketLink, a program to help markets and farmers acquire equipment that allows them to accept EBT, debit, and credit cards. As of 2023, MarketLink has helped over 3,000 farmers and markets accept EBT (NAFMNP-MarketLink); MarketLink also has an interactive map of this national network of farmers and farmers markets that accept EBT, credit, and debit cards (MarketLink-Map).

‡ Resources with a focus on equity.

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MarketLink-Map - MarketLink. Find local food to purchase: Use MarketLink's map of their national network of farmers and farmers markets.

NAFMNP-MarketLink - National Association of Farmers Market Nutrition Programs (NAFMNP). MarketLink.

PolicyLink-HFAP map - PolicyLink, The Reinvestment Fund (TRF), The Food Trust. Healthy food access portal (HFAP): Research your community interactive map for healthy food access.

SRTSNP-Safe routes to healthy foods^‡ - Safe Routes to School National Partnership (SRTSNP). Healthy communities: Safe routes to healthy foods.

USDA-FNS EBT - U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) farmer/producer: Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT), SNAP at farmers' markets webinars, and resources and data.

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