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Triple Your Minnesota Food Benefits with Market Bucks!

Triple Your Minnesota Food Benefits with Market Bucks!

Market Bucks is an innovative nutrition incentive program that helps low income shoppers get more food for their food benefits! This program can help you get up to $20 in free products per day when you shop at a participating market.

What is Market Bucks?

Market Bucks is a dollar-matching program that is offered at certain farmers markets in Minnesota. The program is coordinated by Hunger Solutions, an organization that is dedicating to help alleviate poverty in the state.

Shoppers who use their food benefits at these markets can get up to $20 per day in free products! Basically, if you spend $10, then you’ll get an extra $10 in free Market Bucks and another $10 in free Produce Market Bucks. That’s $30 in food for just $10!

Who is eligible for Market Bucks?

Anyone who receives SNAP food benefits in the state of Minnesota is eligible for this program. In order to get $20 in free produce with each farmers market visit, you need to have a Minnesota-issued SNAP card. This benefit is not available to out-of-state shoppers.

Make sure you choose from a participating location (listed below) and then visit the Information Booth before making a purchase.

How does Market Bucks work?

When you shop at a participating Farmers Market, you just need to visit the Information Booth before making a purchase. They’ll swipe your EBT card for whatever amount you choose to spend. You’ll receive tokens for that amount, plus an equal amount of Market Bucks and Produce Market Bucks. This allows you to tripe the value of your food benefits when you shop with EBT at a participating market!

There is a $10 per day limit for this program. If you spend more than $10 on your EBT card, you’ll still only receive $10 in Market Bucks and $10 in Produce Market Bucks per day.

According to the Hunger Solutions flyer, there are many SNAP-eligible products at the market including:

  • Baked goods
  • Eggs
  • Fish
  • Fruits
  • Honey
  • Maple products
  • Meat
  • Milk
  • Plants
  • Seeds
  • Vegetables

However, only fruit and vegetables can be purchased with Produce Market Bucks. It appears that anything on the list can be purchased with Market Bucks.

It’s important to remember that the bonus bucks you earn expire seasonally. Summer-season bucks expire at the end of October and winter-season bucks expire on April 30th. You can save your extra bucks from one day to the next but you need to remember to use them before the expiration.

What locations participate in Market Bucks?

There are dozens of participating markets around the state of Minnesota. You can find the one nearest you on the Hunger Solutions website or by calling the Minnesota Food Helpline at 888-711-1151.

In 2022, the participating locations included:

  • Apple Valley
  • Luverne Farmer’s Market
  • La Crescent Farmer’s Market
  • Carlton County Farmers Market: Carlton
  • Marshall Farmers’ Market
  • Lake City Market by the Lake
  • Rochester Farmers Market
  • Cuyuna Range Farmers Market
  • Farmers Market Place LLC
  • South St. Paul
  • St. Cloud Area Farmers Market
  • Maple Grove Farmers Market
  • Hutchinson Farmers Market
  • Richfield Farmers Market
  • Andover
  • Burnsville
  • Aldrich Arena
  • Savage
  • Eagan Market Fest
  • East Isles Farmers Market
  • City of Elk River
  • White Earth Community Farmer’s Market
  • Nicollet Mall Farmers Market
  • Staples Area Farmers Market
  • New Life
  • Organizing For Ward 1 & Other Communities
  • Minnesota Fresh Farm
  • Anoka Farmers Market
  • Brooklyn Park Farmers Market
  • St. Joseph Farmers Market
  • St. Cloud Harvest Market
  • Mill City Farmers Market
  • Northeast Minneapolis Farmers Market
  • Walker Community Farmers Market
  • Red Wing Farmers Market
  • Minnetonka Farmers Market
  • St. Luke’s Farmers’ Market
  • Hopkins Farmers Market
  • Winona Farmers Market
  • The Little Market That Could™ Farmers Market
  • Goodview Farmers Market
  • Monticello Farmers Market
  • Wabasha Downtown Farmers Market
  • Two Harbors Farmers Market
  • Mankato Farmers’ Market
  • Canby Farmers Market
  • Fulton Farmers Market
  • Kingfield Farmers Market
  • Big Lake Farmers Market
  • Carlton County Farmers’ Market
  • Cook Area Farmers Market
  • Tower Farmers Market
  • Bloomington Farmers Market
  • Virginia Market Square
  • Hibbing Farmers Market
  • Lakes Area Farmers Market
  • Saint Paul Farmers’ Market
  • Roseville
  • Eyota Farmers Market
  • Woodbury
  • Lakeville
  • Signal Hills
  • Burnsville
  • Inver Grove Heights
  • Rosemount
  • Aitkin Farmers Market
  • Four Sisters Farmers Market
  • Stevens Square Farmers Market
  • Midtown Farmers Market
  • Annandale Farmers Market
  • Cambridge Farmer’s Market
  • Grand Rapids Farmers’ Market
  • Worthington Farmers Market
  • Little Canada Farmers Market
  • Wadena Farmers Market
  • Community Market of Litchfield
  • Bemidji Area Farmers Market
  • Bagley Farmers Area Market
  • New Hope Community Farmers Market
  • Market in the Valley
  • Community Mobile Market
  • Central Hillside Farmers Market
  • Lincoln Park Farmers Market
  • Park Rapids Farmers’ Market
  • Moorhead Farmers Market
  • Albert Lea Farmers Market
  • Minneapolis Farmers Market
  • Pipestone Farmers Market
  • Finland Farmers Market
  • House Of Hope Presbyterian Church
  • West Broadway Farmers Market
  • Audubon Farmers Market
  • Crookston Farmers Market
  • Morris Area Farmers Market
  • Plymouth Farmers Market
  • Alexandria Farmers Market
  • Cannon Valley Farmers’ Market
  • Crystal Farmers Market
  • Duluth Farmers Market
  • Indigenous Art & Food Market
  • Ode’imini Giizis Farmers Market
  • Nokomis Farmers Market 

Of course, each market maintains its own open hours and days. You will need to confirm the schedule for whichever market you want to visit.

Summary

The Minnesota Market Bucks program is a great way to get more food with your food benefits. You can triple the amount of food you can buy when you shop at a participating location! All you have to do is spend $10 to get an extra $20 in free goods, for a total of $30 in food. That’s an incredible deal!

Don’t forget to check out our list of Minnesota EBT discounts for another great deal!

Nicole is the founder and lead researcher of Low Income Relief. After a personal experience with poverty and homelessness following her husband's sudden medical discharge from the U.S. Army, Nicole discovered the life-changing impact of community resources. This experience ignited her passion for empowering others to navigate similar crises. Nicole launched her writing career at age 16, working for various newspapers and publications. Her commitment to in-depth research and accessible content has been recognized by Google for Publishers and other industry leaders. For over 20 years, she has applied her investigative skills to uncover the most helpful, up-to-date information on benefits programs and community resources, ensuring Low Income Relief maintains the most extensive resource databases available.