Farmers' Market Incentives for Low-Income Families: Who Uses, How Much, and Why

Focusing on participation and utilization, this research helps to assess the potential impact and contributions of farmers' market incentive programs, often seen as means for improving nutrition and preventing disease among low-income families.

Evaluating the largest farmers' market incentive program in the U.S. (California Market Match), this study used (1) 3 administrative databases (n=1,469, 6,799, and 30,506), (2) a participant survey (n=2,723), and (3) longitudinal interviews (n=163) with active and former participants. Quantitative data were analyzed with contingency tables and multiple regression. Qualitative data were coded into analytically significant themes. Data were collected in 2015-2018 and analyzed in 2018-2021.

Participation was typically low and varied across localities (3.7%-19.8% of eligible families in a sample of ZIP codes). According to administrative records, market visits by participants in 2 California regions averaged 2.18 and 3.12 per season. However, 77.1% of participants in the shopper survey indicated that they were repeat customers, and 51.0% indicated that they were regular utilizers. Deterrents to utilization included perceptions of inconvenience and high prices but not availability of produce in the community or travel time to markets. Utilization was most frequent among Asian shoppers and residents of Southern California outside Los Angeles County.

Farmers' market incentive programs such as Market Match appear likely to benefit population health through a core of committed shoppers. Improvement in participation and utilization may be attained through a better understanding of the communities that the markets are intended to serve.