Dover Cove Farmers’ Market offers Maine Harvest Bucks
DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Dover Cove Farmers’ Market is excited to be one of 35 farmers markets to offer Maine Harvest Bucks this season. With the Maine Harvest Bucks program, shoppers using federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will receive a fruit and vegetable bonus voucher for every SNAP dollar spent at market.
Dover Cove Farmers’ Market signed up for the Maine Harvest Bucks program as part of an effort to combat the fact that Maine ranks 1st in New England for food insecurity. “Our farmers want to feed their neighbors. They want people to eat the food they work so hard to produce. Maine Harvest Bucks are a great incentive to shop at the farmers’ market and get more fruits and vegetables,” said Trisha Smith, a market volunteer.
The federally-funded and state-administered SNAP program provides a national average of $28 per week to eligible individuals. These benefits can be used for a variety of food products, as well as vegetable seeds and seedlings and are designed to help relieve food insecurity. Research demonstrates that using SNAP dollars has a positive correlation with childhood development and long-term health as well as the stabilization of local economies. The Maine Harvest Bucks program is also federally funded under the USDA’s Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Grant.
The Maine Local Foods Access Network received this grant via Wholesome Wave, a national leader in nutrition incentive work. Maine Harvest Bucks helps extend limited SNAP dollars, bringing fresh fruits and vegetables within reach and furthering the positive impact of SNAP.
“Maine Harvest Bucks is a nutrition incentive program,” explains Emilie Knight, SNAP program coordinator for the Maine Federation of Farmers’ Markets (the organization that oversees the program at farmers markets). “The obvious goal is to get more local nourishing food, in particular fruits and vegetables, to folks who need it by incentivizing more healthful purchases, as opposed to trying to limit less nutritious foods. It is very important to us that this program operates smoothly for farmers and their markets. We are endlessly grateful to the dozens of market and community members who offer their time to make this service available at markets statewide.”
Visitors will find friendly faces at the Dover Cove Farmers’ Market’s information booth. They can explain how the SNAP incentive program works — look for the Maine Harvest Bucks logo on the big yellow sign. Follow DoverCoveFarmersMarket on Facebook or dover_cove on Instagram.
The market is at 1033 South Street (the Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce parking area) on Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Tuesdays 2-6 p.m. Visit maineharvestbucks.org to learn about all the locations (farmers markets and more) statewide where these SNAP bonuses are available.