Health & Nutrition: Double Up Food Bucks By: Morgan Kitchen, Pedro Arreza, Carlyn Costo, Carson Clark

How Did It Start?  The organization “Fair Food Network” started the first “Double Up Food Bucks” in 2009 at five farmers markets in Detroit.  In 2013’s summer, Double Up ideas were implemented in more than 100 markets in Michigan, and they conducted an expansion into grocery stores.

How Does It Work?  Nutrition and wellness is a key factor of the Farm Bill. Basically, this is how it works. People receive food stamps, coupons used to buy food, which are often given to people that cannot afford it, by the government. Food stamps are also part of the “SNAP benefits”. SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which means exactly what you think it does. Once you are given a food stamp, they will bring them to a grocery store or local farmers market, and use them. For every dollar that they spend at the market, they will receive the equal amount in tokens that can then be redeemed for Michigan's produce. They can earn up to twenty dollars per visit.

Local Food Economies... Double-up food bucks have cultivated local food economies by bringing in more local manufactures (or producers). In surveys 83% of farmers have said to make more money at farmers Markets when the markets have double-up food bucks there.

Fruit & Vegetable Access... Low income families like the idea of double up food bucks because they do a good job of improving the access and affordability of fruits and vegetables. The amount consumed was increased more than three- quarters because of this program said by SNAP users. As a result of Double Up Food Bucks, close to 90 percent of these people said that they used benefits on fewer low- nutrition or high-fat snacks.

Promoting healthy foods SNAP is concerned with not only becoming an anti-hunger program, but as well as a pro-health program. Many are concerned that the farm bill reduces SNAP spending too much, but at the same time it is a critical aspect of food security for the low-income Americans. Many promote healthy food-systems in unprecedented ways, so Double-up food bucks strives to do both, in efforts to save both individual healthcare and the farmers.