Iowa residents can double their SNAP dollars through the Double Up Food Bucks program! All you have to do is shop at certain participating farmers markets in order to get extra money to buy locally grown fruits and vegetables.
What is Double Up Food Bucks?
Double Up Food Bucks is an incredible nationwide movement that is helping to put more healthy food on the plates of low income Americans. Healthy food is expensive, so a lot of people who need it can’t afford it. DUFB helps with that.
The program is fairly straightforward: when you use your EBT benefits at participating retailers, you’re given extra money to purchase produce. Everyone who currently receives SNAP food benefits in Iowa is eligible to use this!
How does it work?
When you visit a participating location, you’ll get $1 in Double Up Food Bucks for every $1 you spend with SNAP benefits. If you spend $1, you’ll get $1. If you spend $5, you’ll get $5. If you spend $10, you’ll get $10.
Unfortunately, the program is capped at a $10 match per day. That means if you spend $10, you’ll get $10… but if you spend $20, you’ll still get $10.
All you need to do is bring your SNAP EBT card to a participating location. You’ll receive a dollar-match for your eligible purchases, which you can use to get more food!
Where can I double my benefits in Iowa?
You can double your benefits at participating Farmer’s Markets, Fareway Grocery Stores, HyVee Grocery Stores, and at either New Pioneer Food Co-Op or Wheatsfield Co-Op. There’s always an up-to-date map at the Double Up website.
Farmers Markets & Stands
There are many farmers markets across the state that participate! When you visit a Farmers’ Market, you’ll need to check in at the information both. Not every vendor is set up to process EBT, so they’ll swipe your EBT card at the information booth and give you tokens you can use to purchase food from participating vendors around the market.
- Ames Farmers Market (Ames)
- Wheatsfield Cooperative (Ames)
- Produce in the Park (Atlantic)
- College Hill Farmers Market (Cedar Falls)
- Farmers at the Market (Cedar Rapids)
- Chariton Farmers Market (Chariton)
- Cedar Lake Farrmers Market (Clear Lake)
- Decorah Farmers Market (Decorah)
- Oneota Community Food Cooperative (Decorah)
- Freight House Farmers Market (Davenport)
- Beaverdale Farmers Market (Des Moines)
- Iowa Food Cooperative (Des Moines)
- LSI Global Greens Market (Des Moines)
- Oakridge Neighborhood Center Street Farmers Market (Des Moines)
- Dubuque Farmers Market (Dubuque)
- Grinnell Farmers Market (Grinnell)
- Circle C Farms (Humboldt)
- Field to Family Online Ordering (Iowa City)
- Iowa City Farmers Market (Iowa City)
- Trowel & Error Farm CSA (Iowa City)
- Johnston Farmers Market (Johnston)
- One Farm Market (Logan)
- Mason City Farmers Market (Mason City)
- Cartwright Downtown Farmers Market (Marshalltown)
- Echollective Farm & CSA (Merchanicville)
- Pleasant Grove Homestead (Montezuma)
- Perry Farmers Market (Perry)
- Country Market (Sioux City)
- The Spencer Farmers Market (Spencer)
- Local Harvest CSA (Solon)
- Greens to Go Online Ordering (Waterloo)
- Hoffman Produce Farms (Waterloo)
- Waterloo Urban Farmers Market (Waterloo)
- West Des Moines Valley Junction Farmers Market (West Des Moines)
Fareway Grocery Stores
There are Fareway locations that provide Double Up benefits in the following cities:
- Ames
- Atlantic
- Burlington
- Cedar Falls
- Clarinda
- Clear Lake
- Creston
- Des Moines
- Davenport
- Decorah
- Dubuque
- Evansville
- Fort Dodge
- Grinnell
- Iowa City
- Mason City
- Marshalltown
- Oelwein
- Perry
- Shenandoah
- Spencer
- Washington
- Waterloo
- West Des Moines
Hy-Vee
If you shop at HyVee, you need to remember to ask the cashier about the Double Up program. There are Hy-Vee locations that provide Double Up benefits in the following cities:
- Albia
- Bedford
- Burlington
- Cedar Rapids
- Clarinda
- Cornings
- Council Bluffs
- Corydon
- Garner
- Fairfield
- Forest City
- Keokuk
- Leon
- Lamoni
- Mount Ayr
- Mount Pleasant
- Ottumwa
- Shenandoah
- Sioux City
New Pioneer Food Co-Op
The New Pioneer Food Coop has several locations. you can swipe your card at the register.
- Cedar Rapids
- Coralville
- Iowa City
Don’t forget your Iowa EBT discounts!
You can get more than just free produce with your EBT card! We’ve found some truly incredible EBT discounts around Iowa, too!
Nicole Thelin
Nicole is the owner and lead researcher for Low Income Relief. She has over 20 years of professional research and writing experience, and she has been solely dedicated to investigating low income topics for the last 10 years. Nicole started Low Income Relief after a personal experience with poverty. When her husband was medically discharged from the US Army, their family experienced tremendous financial hardship. Nicole was able to gather help from multiple community agencies and move into a nearby low income housing unit in just two weeks! Since then, Nicole has been dedicated to helping low income families in crisis. She regularly spends hundreds of hours combing through countless resources to make sure that Low Income Relief has the most comprehensive and complete resource directories on the internet today. Prior to starting Low Income Relief, Nicole worked as a novelist, journalist, ghostwriter and content creator. Her work has been featured in various print and online publications, including USA Today, The Daily Herald, The Chronicle and more. Her work has also been featured by Google for Publishers and other leading industry publications.