Posts Tagged: Farmers Market
UCCE is helping CalFresh shoppers double food dollars at farmers markets
Across California, CalFresh shoppers can use their EBT cards at most farmers markets and double the value of their benefit, up to $10 per family each market day.
“This benefit is underused,” said Chutima Ganthavorn, nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. “There may be a perception that farmers market prices are higher than in regular grocery stores.”
To help promote the Market Match program that makes shopping at farmers markets more affordable for CalFresh customers, Ganthavorn worked with the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources news and information outreach in Spanish office to develop videos in English and Spanish that clearly explain the program for potential users.
“Our program, CalFresh Healthy Living, UCCE, provides nutrition education to CalFresh-eligible participants in Coachella Valley to promote increasing consumption of locally grown, fresh fruits and vegetables,” Ganthavorn said. “Increasing buying power at farmers markets helps participants incorporate delicious, local produce into affordable meals for the whole family.”
To use Market Match, CalFresh recipients visit a kiosk at the market and use their EBT card to purchase $10 in wooden tokens. The program provides an additional $10 in tokens for purchase of fruits and vegetables only. The $20 can then be used to purchase items at all the farmers' booths that day at the market. Shoppers can look up participating farmers markets by going to FMFinder.org.
“Wow! These (videos) are terrific,” said Megan Goehring, the manager of the Palm Springs farmers market. “Will share on social media today.”
Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program vouchers and Women, Infants and Children vouchers can also be used at participating farmers markets.
Below are the videos and their YouTube URLs for easy sharing:
Spanish -
English - https://youtu.be/dz6R_l123AE
/span>Bay Area Bee Fair on Oct. 13: The Place to 'Bee'
It's a fair. It's a party. It's a pollinator party. It's the Bay Area Bee Fair in Berkeley. And...
Black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, nectaring on nectarine blossoms. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, nectaring on Mexican sunflower, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A black-tailed bee, Bombus californicus, nectaring on blanket flower, Gaillardia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, and honey bee, Apis mellifera, sharing a purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Lucy Diekmann, Ph.D. joins UCCE as Urban Agriculture and Food Systems Advisor for Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties
Silicon Valley's culture of innovation, diverse culinary traditions, fertile soils, and Mediterranean climate offer unique food system opportunities. In addition to large tech companies, these two counties are home to roughly 1300 farms with agricultural production valued at more than $450 million. Yet high land values make it difficult for farmers to find and keep land. The high cost of living also contributes to many families' struggle to put healthy food on the table. According to Second Harvest Food Bank, one in three children in Silicon Valley are food insecure. Many of those who are hungry are employed, but don't make enough to cover basic expenses in what has become the country's richest region as well as its most expensive.
Despite these challenges, this is an exciting time to work on food and agriculture in Silicon Valley. Santa Clara County is in the process of implementing the Santa Clara Valley Agricultural Plan to preserve agricultural lands and support a vibrant agricultural economy. The nonprofit organization SPUR is piloting a program to make California-grown produce more affordable for low-income families at grocery stores in San Jose and Gilroy. Civically engaged residents successfully advocated for Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones in the City of San Jose, creating new opportunities to put vacant land to productive use. The region's urban farms are involved in growing food for school cafeterias, developing a food entrepreneurship program, and educating students and the general public about food and agriculture, among many other activities.
Originally from Maine, I relocated to the Bay Area 15 years ago to pursue a PhD at UC Berkeley. For the past eight years, I've been working and raising my family in the South Bay. If you'd like to learn more about my work or Silicon Valley's food system, please be in touch. You can find me here: http://cesantaclara.ucanr.edu/Programs/contact/?facultyid=40005.
Grow Your Own Fruits and Vegetables!
Growing your own garden can help you and your family save money and eat more fruits and vegetables!...
Farmers Markets Are In Season!
Image Source: http://bit.ly/2oIjsVS We are so lucky to be living in the Central Valley,...