Shoppers picking up onions, garlic or other root vegetables from George Hill’s Farm and other vendors at the Wooster Square Farmers Market in New Haven can get twice as much if they’re using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
City Seed, which runs the year-round farmers markets in New Haven, has partnered with End Hunger Connecticut! to provide twice as much food for each SNAP dollar spent.
“We’re able to double the value of all the SNAP dollars spent on fresh produce at the farmer’s market,” City Seed Market Manager Blaise Berglund said. “We accept SNAP at all our markets; for bread, eggs, milk, dairy, honey, meat.”
In New Haven, where about 36,000 people currently receive the financial food benefit through the Connecticut Department of Social Services, about $30,000 is doubled each season, according to End Hunger Connecticut! Program Manager Molly Stadnicki. Statewide, the non-profit matches about $100,000 a year at 50 farmers markets. The program has been in place since 2017.
SNAP benefits are available depending on household size and take-home income. For example, a household of two people making no more than $3,287 can get up to $535 each month in SNAP benefits, according to the Connecticut Department of Social Services website.
Lack of access is another issue for households, on top of struggling to pay for healthy food. The Food Empowerment Project estimates that 2.2% of U.S. households have trouble accessing a grocery store because of distance or lack of a vehicle.
“New Haven is definitely a food desert,” George Hill’s Farm vendor Ollie Browning said. “It can be really hard to find the stuff that we have here.”
The farmers at City Seed acknowledge these issues and often will help those struggling to pay.
“If you’re short on cash, we’ll usually just let people get away with whatever they have,” George Hill’s Farm vendor Sid Ponder said. “Especially if they’re elderly or something like that, we’ll give them a discount.”
City Seed operates four farmers markets in New Haven.
Berglund said: “City Seed’s mission is to support a more equitable and sustainable food system, so that starts with providing spaces for local Connecticut farms to sell their products and make a profit.”
Since its founding 20 years ago, City Seed has grown beyond that mission to provide healthy produce to those struggling with food insecurity. Employees, vendors and farmers have become their own community offering a supportive atmosphere for people in New Haven.
Joel Smith previously volunteered and then worked for City Seed before becoming a farmer with Star Light Gardens in Durham 12 years ago.
“Before I was a farmer, I started volunteering for City Seed about 16 years ago, then I was working for the now gone prescription fruit and vegetable program,” Smith said. “I was an assistant market manager before leaving the ranks of City Seed to become a farmer.”
Smith said City Seed has “cultivated an excellent community” of vendors, volunteers and staff.
“This is a space for everyone,” Berglund said. “It’s a space to celebrate food and celebrate the diversity of the city.”
Ali Fernand is a journalism student at Southern Connecticut State University. This story is republished via CT Community News, a service of the Connecticut Student Journalism Collaborative, an organization sponsored by journalism departments at college and university campuses across the state.