Double Up Food Bucks

A: Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) is a program that “matches” SNAP EBT Card benefits spent at farmers markets. Whatever you spend on your SNAP Card, you’ll get a dollar for dollar match of up to $10 in DUFB that you can spend on fresh fruits and vegetables grown in Iowa. So, if you spend $10 on your SNAP EBT Card, you’ll get an extra $10 – FREE – that you can use to buy more fresh, locally-grown produce.

How to use at the Farms Market :

Bring your EBT card to the market! When you get there, find the information booth. This is the booth for ALL card payments: credit, debit, and SNAP. Tell the market staff how much you’d like to spend at the market with your EBT card.

They will swipe your card, and then give you SNAP tokens. These tokens can be spent on any eligible food item that isn’t hot and ready at the market.

Then, they will match the SNAP bucks $1 for $1 with Double Up Food Bucks, good for locally-grown fresh fruits and vegetables. If you spend $5, you get $5. If you spend $10, you get $10! They will match up to $10 every time you visit!

How to use at the Grocery Store :

Bring your EBT card to a participating grocery store!

At the register for every $1 you spend on any fresh fruits and vegetables with your SNAP EBT card,  you will get $1 in Double Up Food Bucks. So if you spend $5 on fresh fruits and vegetables,  you will get $5 in Double Up Food Bucks that can be used to buy more fresh produce! You can earn up to $10 in Double Up Food Bucks per day.

Spend your Double Up Food Bucks right away or save the for later use. You can use your Double Up Food Bucks currency at any other participating location, including farmers markets, farm stands or other grocery stores.

When you use your EBT Card at a participating market, you’ll automatically get an equal value of DUFB, up to $10.

You can spend your DUFB on fresh fruit and vegetables that were locally grown.  Look for vendors with a “Double Up” sign. You can also use DUFB to buy plants to grow food in your own garden.  You can spend your SNAP EBT Card benefits on almost anything edible at the market, except ready-to-eat prepared foods.

Look for this signage with participating vendors:

Download a copy  of this FAQ to make your market shopping experience easier.

DUFB is a program with two goals: to help low-income families access fresher, healthy foods AND to support local farmers. By spending your DUFB on locally grown products, you’re helping local farmers boost their incomes, and that is great for the Iowa economy.  You can still use your SNAP EBT Card benefits for other food items, like meats, cheeses, and fresh breads from the other market vendors.

No, just come to the market and use your EBT Card. Go to the market central information booth to swipe your EBT Card.  A staff member will help you and they will record the last few digits of your EBT Card account number – this is only so that we can track how many new customers are coming because of DUFB and how many times people come back.

Keep them and use them next week!  DUFB are not refundable because they’re free.  Some people like to save up their DUFB for when their favorite fruit and vegetables are in season, and then buy large quantities to can or freeze.

DUFB has a limited budget. We want as many people as possible to get the benefit of doubling their fruit and vegetable purchasing power, and the best way to do that is to limit the number of DUFB one person can get per market visit. You can come back every week to this market and you’ll get up to $10 matched at each and every visit from now through the end of October.

DUFB must be redeemed at any of the 13 DUFB locations in Iowa (see list above)

Yes, it is really free. DUFB is a project of your local farmers market, Iowa Healthiest State Initiative , and Eat Greater Des Moines. The goal is to get more healthy food to Iowa families while supporting Iowa farmers. Local funding comes from the United Way of Central Iowa.

An EBT Card is the common name for the electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card used by recipients of federal food assistance benefits in Iowa. It has a picture of the Iowa horizon on it. SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is the new name for the federal food assistance program formerly called Food Stamps.

In order to qualify for a EBT Card, you must meet certain requirements for income and expenses determined by the State of Iowa. To see if you qualify and apply for benefits, go to https://dhsservices.iowa.gov/apspssp/ssp.portal or call 1-855-889-7985. You can also contact your local food bank for information on where to go in your community to apply for benefits, or call the United Way’s 2-1-1 service (dial 2-1-1 on any phone).