Crop Cash Helps Northfielders Buy More Fresh Food at Farmers Market
More than 70,000 Vermonters receive 3SquaresVT benefits (also known as SNAP) to help them provide food for their families, many of whom live right here in Northfield. The Northfield Farmers Market welcomes 3SquaresVT benefits. We also distribute and accept Crop Cash, which can be used to buy fruits, vegetables, herbs, and edible plant starts from local farmers. For every $1 spent in SNAP, you get $1 in Crop Cash up to $20. PLUS during the month of November, you get $20 in Crop Cash Plus! That makes a $20 EBT spend worth $60!!!
Here's how that works at our online winter market:
- Choose EBT as your payment method at checkout, which will be reflected in your initial order confirmation email message. If you already have EBT tokens and/or Crop Cash coupons you'd like to use for your order, let us know in the Buyer Comments section.
- We'll calculate how much Crop Cash you should receive and apply it to your order -- as well as any you already have -- which will be reflected in your final order confirmation email.
- Bring your EBT card, tokens and coupons when you pick up your order. We'll process the transaction and give you any Crop Cash that was not used for your order.
That's it! It's simple, easy, and no tokens to keep track of.
The Crop Cash Program benefits 3SquaresVT households, area farmers, and the local economy by increasing the opportunity for limited-income Vermonters to use their federal benefit dollars to purchase more local produce that directly supports local farm businesses.
In the past three years, we’ve processed almost $4,000 in EBT/SNAP transactions and another $4,000 in Crop Cash redemptions. That’s $8,000 that went directly into the pockets of our local producers. It’s also thousands of dollars worth of fresh produce that went on the tables of our friends and neighbors that they otherwise might not have had. That’s why we don’t just accept EBT cards. We welcome them!
The Crop Cash Program is coordinated by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT), with funding from the USDA. For more information on Crop Cash, including a list of participating markets in Vermont, visit www.nofavt.org/cropcash.
