In California the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is called CalFresh. The program is designed to provide families with supplemental financial assistance in their budget to put healthy and nutritious food on the table. The Visalia Farmers Market Association is proud to participate in the farmers market CalFresh EBT project in Tulare County.

Our farmers sell a wide variety of CalFresh/EBT eligible, locally produced agricultural products such as: fresh and dried fruits and vegetables, olives and olive oil, fresh and dried herbs and garlic, nuts, eggs and meats, milk and cheese, breads, jams, jellies, and other traditional preserved products.



The purpose of the CalFresh EBT program at certified farmers markets is to:

• Provide every member of the community access to fresh, locally grown agricultural products to increase consumption of healthy foods among all families.
• Provide a foundation for a thriving local economy by linking federal nutrition assistance funds to farm direct agricultural product sales.
• Secure markets for local agricultural producers and the future viability of our precious farmland.
• Assistance is issued on the Golden State Advantage EBT card so that recipients access their food benefits electronically and these benefits can now be used to buy food at certified farmers markets.

How it works:

• The customer brings the CalFresh EBT card to the Market Manager Booth to use their benefits at each of our markets
• The consumer decides how much they want to spend at the market and asks the market staff to sell her script tokens worth that amount.
• The CalFresh EBT card is swiped through the wireless POS terminal and the total amount of the sale is debited from the customer’s card.
• The customer is given script tokens worth $1 each for the full amount requested.
• The customer shops at any of our markets with the VFMA script tokens for eligible food items, using tokens like cash.