2024 Double Up Food Bucks Season Recap

Posted on December 13, 2024 by Alicia Alferman

Thanks to the Double Up Food Bucks program, over 2,000 farmers market customers in the KC area found access to healthy, local foods in the 2024 farmers market season. In total, these customers spent over $287,000 in SNAP and DUFB funds here in the local agriculture community. This blog builds on the data from our previous post, Double Up Food Thrives at Kansas City Farmers Markets.

Read on for more info!

Broad Strokes

Fourteen farmers markets and farm stands offered DUFB this season, compared to 19 markets and farm stands in 2023. Largely because of this decrease in market coverage, the KC metro-area markets saw 17% less food access activity overall compared to last year. That said, when we break the total activity down by the number of markets, we can see that the average market saw a 9.3% increase in food access activity in 2024. Several markets have reported activity well beyond that average, so this is another year of positive impact in the KC metro area.

A few more figures:

  • $137,863.00 in DUFB tokens spent by customers at vendor booths.
  • $150,165.69 in SNAP tokens spent by customers at vendor booths.
  • 2,141 unique DUFB customers made a total of 6,456 SNAP/DUFB withdrawals at your market manager booths.
  • $13,370.00 in Market Match coupons distributed for the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program.
  • $11,692.00 in Market Match coupons spent by customers at vendor booths.

One thing about the SNAP program is that a recipient’s funding is determined by their need, which includes the number of people in their household. So that “unique customers” figure above could also be considered “unique households.” And considering the average size of a household in the KC metro area is around 2.2 people, that means nearly 5,000 of our neighbors benefitted from SNAP and DUFB this year. And considering that most SNAP funds in Kansas and Missouri are awarded to seniors and households with children, we’ve made a multi-generational impact with this program.

The Arc of the Season

It’s great to see this year-end data, but what does it look like throughout the year? Most markets are dormant until April or May, and the DUFB program ended early this year, on October 31. So this may not be a surprise, but the main activity of the market season correlates with the main months of the growing season:

Another quirk of this data is that both SNAP and DUFB tokens are valid for the entire course of the season. What we see is that often, DUFB customers will withdraw tokens early in the season (when there’s less produce to spend them on), and save them for later in the year when farm production is at its peak. It’s a thrifty way to make use of the program, and it contributes to the high activity we see from late July through the end of October. What’s more: the farmers appreciate the bump in revenue right before their fallow season! It’s a win-win for local food.

What’s in Store for 2025?

Since Fall 2020, Double Up Food Bucks has been funded by a grant from the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP). These funds were awarded to Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), which partners with Cultivate KC and five other organizations (collectively called the Double Up Food Bucks Heartland Collaborative) to implement DUFB around Kansas and Missouri. Earlier this year, MARC applied to the next grant period for GusNIP but unfortunately, they did not receive this federal funding.

The silver lining is that the GusNIP grant requires private matching funds, and our private donors have been very generous in committing their funding to us despite not receiving the federal grant. This is great news, because after a lot of hard work from the team at MARC, we’re thrilled to announce that we will still be able to offer DUFB in the Kansas City area throughout next year. The program will face unique challenges in 2025, but with care, diligence, and support from community members like you we hope to support just as many families as we did this past year.

Thanks to Our Market Managers

This program wouldn’t be possible without the weekly efforts of all the market managers and support staff who make DUFB a success at their markets:

These are the real heroes who connect local folks looking for food, and local folks who are growing food. Next time you visit one of these markets, give them a quick thanks for their hard work!

Special congratulations to Joe Antoine, who is retiring from the market manager position at the Independence Uptown Farmers Market after 17 years of service. Thank you so much for all your work to support your local food community, Joe! You’ve got a lot to be proud of, and we hope your retirement is excellent!

Want to Take Action?

If all this info has got you excited about the food network here in Kansas City, make sure you check out the Local Food page here on the Cultivate KC website. There, you’ll find info on all the farmers markets in the area (whether they offer DUFB or not), as well as local restaurants that source their ingredients locally, and wholesale purchasing options if you’re looking for a way to purchase bulk produce for commercial kitchens and events.

Until next year, folks! May your pantries always be full, and may you find community and friendship at your local market.

Written by Eli O’Sullivan Kurtz, Cultivate KC Farmers Market Specialist

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