At the market, when you want to use your EBT card, stop in first at the Info Booth and pick up a “shopping sheet” (a list of the market vendors) that your purchases at market will be recorded on. Then as you buy something from a vendor, that vendor writes the amount of the sale on the sheet next to their farm name. When done shopping, go back to the Info Booth, hand in your shopping sheet and your EBT card will be swiped for the total of your purchases. That’s it! Now you are offered some “Maine Harvest Bucks” based on the amount of your EBT purchases.
Maine Harvest Bucks.
Maine Harvest Bucks is a type of coupon that you can use as cash at the market, but only for fresh fruits, herbs, vegetables, and vegetable and herb garden seedlings. Harvest Bucks are a promotion to encourage SNAP EBT recipients to purchase more fresh produce at the market and therefore they cannot be used for meats, eggs, dairy, or baked goods. Maine Harvest Bucks are given out in some proportion to the amount of each EBT purchase you just made. This is often on a 1 to 1 basis, which means that if you spend $25 with your EBT card, you’ll get $25 of Maine Harvest Bucks to use to buy even more food. The coupons come in $1 and $5 denominations and can be spent at any farmers’ market in Maine. You cannot get cash change for Harvest Bucks and they have no cash value outside of a Maine farmers’ market.
Bumper Crop coupons.
These are $5 denomination coupons given out by businesses and municipalities around the state for use exclusively at farmers’ markets. Orange Bumper Crop coupons are for fruits and veg only, while the green ones are for any food. Bumper Crop is a promotional program of the Maine Federation of Farmers’ Markets, which reimburses the vendors for all coupons redeemed.
As a reminder, here are the guidelines using the following currencies accepted at your farmers’ market:
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Market Currency: |
Accepted as payment for: |
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SNAP/EBT |
Food items to be eaten at home, and food-bearing seedlings/plants. (See USDA’s rules about using SNAP/EBT). This market uses a SHOPPING SHEET to record these transactions. |
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Maine Harvest Bucks |
Use like cash for vegetables, fruits, food-bearing seedlings/plants |
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Bumper Crop |
Use like cash for any food items including food-bearing seedlings/plants |