If paying with SNAP/EBT at any of the participating stores, customers receive vouchers upon checkout from the cashier. These vouchers are to be spent on local fruits and vegetables.

Any customer paying with SNAP/EBT (formerly called food stamps, or in Maine the “Food Supplement program” or the Pine Tree Card).

Local products that are also SNAP-eligible. Local labels and shelf tags can help you find products that qualify for earning vouchers.

Any Maine-grown fruit or vegetable. This includes fresh, frozen, and dried products with no added sugars, salts, or fats. Local, food-producing seeds and plants count too!

This program is available all year! More and more farmers are growing food through the winter. Some of the stores do change hours in the winter.

You do not have to redeem vouchers at the store you received them from.  Vouchers are valid at all participating stores.

No. Maine Harvest Bucks is the sister nutrition incentive program, but Farm Fresh Rewards vouchers may not be used at Maine Harvest Bucks sites and vice versa. However, anyone using SNAP benefits is encouraged to participate in both programs.

Funding for this program comes from a federal grant, and much of it also comes from individual donors, communities, and other foundations. If anyone has questions or wants to support this program, please send them to Good Shepherd Food Bank’s Nutrition and Education team. 

Program Contact:
Meg Brown and Courtney Kennedy
FarmFreshRewards@GSFB.org

The vouchers you get and spend for local produce are fully paid for by Good Shepherd Food Bank, through a grant and additional funding. The farmer gets the full price for everything you buy through this program, including the extra food you get with the vouchers! By increasing the amount of foods bought that are produced by Maine farmers, you are building their sales, which supports the growth of their overall farm business.

Nutrition incentive programs make healthy food more accessible by providing financial incentives to low-income shoppers participating in federal nutrition assistance programs. With Farm Fresh Rewards, shoppers who buy local food with SNAP/EBT (formerly called food stamps) earn bonus dollars to buy more locally-grown fruit and vegetables.

Farm Fresh Rewards benefits everyone:

• SNAP shoppers can buy more locally-produced food
• Maine farmers and food businesses gain new customers
• More food dollars stay in the local economy

Maine Farmland Trust and other partners have a history of implementing similar nutrition incentive programs at farmers’ markets.

In 2015, they received a major federal grant to expand nutrition incentives to stores selling local food, like co-ops and small grocers. These local retailers provide an important access point for more Maine farmers and shoppers to benefit from nutrition incentives. When more Mainers can buy more local food, everyone wins: families can make healthier choices, farmers and local food outlets gain new customers, and local economies thrive.

To learn more about Maine Harvest Bucks at farmers’ markets, farm stands, and CSAs, visit MaineHarvestBucks.org.

Expanding nutrition incentives around the state to farmers’ markets, farm stands, stores, and other locations is the current priority of the Maine Local Foods Access Network.

Maine Farmland Trust is a partner in the New England Nutrition Incentive Collaborative, a project supported by the USDA Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive program and led by Farm Fresh Rhode Island.