By Laurie Jervis
for Route One Farmers Market
Shortly after its one-year anniversary on June 2, the Route One Farmers Market launched California Market Match (www.marketmatch.org), a program that boosts low-income shoppers’ buying power.
Shelby Wild, market director, said the Route One market was awarded the program on April 30, and she introduced it to the Sunday market on June 14.
“Offering Market Match to our community has been a goal since the inception of Route One Farmers Market, and we are thrilled to partner with the Ecology Center to bring this great incentive to the Lompoc Valley,” she said.
“In these times when so many of us are facing extreme financial hardship, we feel fortunate to be able to help in some small way. An additional $10 to $20 a week can buy quite a lot of fruits and vegetables, and when you use your incentives at farmers markets you know that your sales are directly supporting our small local growers and producers and their families.”
The Route One Farmers Market takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at 3745 Constellation Road in the parking lot of the Vandenberg Village Community Services District building.
Market Match doubles low-income shoppers’ benefits and allows them to buy more produce. In other words, if a customer spends $10 of his/her allotted benefit, each is given an additional $10 in market tokens/vouchers to spend on fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts.
California Market Match was founded in 2009 by a nonprofit program of the Public Health Institute, Roots of Change (ROC). In the years since, Market Match’s primary founder has been the California Department of Food and Agriculture, Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.
