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On August 8th, the final Saturday of National Farmers Market Week, Tiffany Ratliff stood behind the check in table at Pikeville Farmers Market with a binder of sign up sheets and a line of shoppers ready to try something new.

Tiffany has been a local food advocate for years. Community Farm Alliance worked with her this season to bring Kentucky Double Dollars (KDD) to Pikeville, and closing out National Farmers Market Week with the launch felt like the right way to mark the moment. The program is built on a simple idea: when fresh, local food is easier to afford, farmers sell more and families eat better.

“The KY Double Dollars program is great,” Tiffany said. “By connecting our local farmers to the community, we build a trusting relationship and provide access to nutritional foods.”

Here is how it works. Shoppers using SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Senior Vouchers, or WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) can double their benefits at the market, up to $20 a day to spend on fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, and eggs. For a family stretching a grocery budget, that is real money that goes further. For the farmers at the market, it is more customers walking away with a full bag instead of a smaller one.

Pikeville Farmers Market runs Tuesdays from 4:30 to 7:00 PM and Saturdays from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM through mid to late October. If you are in Pikeville, stop by, say hello to Tiffany, and see what Kentucky Double Dollars can do for your next trip to the market. Find this market and others across Kentucky at cfaky.org/kdd.

Senate Version vs House Version

(If you would like to dive into CFA’s blog post about the passing of the House version, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, read it HERE.)

The House-passed the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 (H.R. 7567) on April 30, 2026. Then the Senate Agriculture Committee followed up with the Agricultural Act of 2026, or “Farm Bill 2.0,” and was released as a discussion draft on June 23, 2026.  

After a markup session lasting several hours and debating over 200 amendments the committee voted 10–11, failing to advance the bill, with 2 senators not present to vote; Senator Mitch McConnell (KY) and Tommy Tuberville (AL). This means the Senate proposal is still a negotiating document rather than a bill that has passed the full Senate. With the August recess coming to an end, legislators are heading back to D.C. where it could be brought to discussion again.

For Community Farm Alliance and Kentucky’s local food and family farm community, there are several areas of meaningful overlap—as well as some important differences.

At A Glance

Senate Amendments We’re Watching

During the recent Senate Farm Bill mark up over 200 amendments were filed. Here are just a few we are keeping our eye on.

1. Senator Bennet #14 – This amendment expands investment in farmers’ markets and farmers’ market nutrition programs to strengthen communities and improve access to healthy food.
2. Senator Booker #6 – An amendment to provide $1 billion in annual mandatory funding for local food purchasing programs. 
3. Senator Grassley #4 – To codify three finalized rulemakings under the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921
4. Senator Welch #5 – Increase Farm to School mandatory funding from $5 million to $15 million per year and increase maximum grant award to $500,000.
5. Senator Warnock #11 – To expand eligibility and address administrative issues related to the Heirs Property Relending Program. 
6. Senator Slotkin #9 – This amendment would allow additional urban producers to participate in the Conservation Stewardship Program. 
7. Senator Smith #10 – This amendment would require that all obligated Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grants be reinstated. 
8. Senator Schiff #1 – This amendment would ensure new producers are eligible for the specialty crop emergency assistance framework.
9. Senator Schiff #5 – This amendment would eliminate the lower payment limit for organic farmers through EQIP.
10. Senator Luján #9 – This amendment funds the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program at $200 million per year using existing Section 32 funds. 
11. Senator Luján #8 – Provides $200 million annually in mandatory funding to the Strengthening Local Food Security Program 
12. Senator Luján #4 – Requirement that USDA use the specialty crop emergency payment framework 

What’s Next?

So what happens next? Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) has signaled that he may reconvene the Senate Agriculture Committee in mid-September 2026 to revisit the bill, though it’s evident that only a bipartisan SNAP solution will open a viable pathway for a new farm bill by the end of 2026. 

Long story short; in order to achieve a different outcome in September, Chairman Boozman will need either Sen. McConnell to return to Washington, or he will need to strike a bipartisan deal on SNAP with Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). While both of these pathways remain possible they are far from guaranteed.

To read more about what’s to come next check out NSAC’s breakdown HERE. 

Last week, CFA staff and board had a great time visiting our local (and not so local!) farmers markets for National Farmers Market Week (NFMW). This is a week, every year, when we get to show up at markets across Kentucky to say “Thank you!” to the farmers who grow our food, and to the communities that gather every week to buy it.

This year, our team crisscrossed the state for NFMW, from the mountains of Knott, Perry, and Breathitt counties to the Bluegrass markets in Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Hardin, Madison, and Mercer counties, down to Bowling Green and Glasgow, and out to Henderson, Hopkins, and Webster counties in the west. What we found everywhere was the same thing: farmers markets are so much more than a place to buy produce. Farmer Markets build COMMUNITY. 

Through Kentucky Double Dollars and FreshRx for Families, CFA helps to make sure a trip to the farmers market is within reach for every family, not just some. This week alone, our team visited markets running produce vouchers for people managing diabetes, market bucks for kids, food bags for families, and Farm to Table dinners that put local farmers’ harvests on the table in a whole new way. These programs are proof of what’s possible when a market and its farmers work together to serve the whole community, and oftentimes contribute to building community in the process. 

As Sarah Reeber of Oak and Barrel Meats in Washington County put it: “The farmers market builds a community of farmers and recurring customers. I offer online sales, however nothing beats interacting with your customers in person — getting to see and talk with them weekly.” We saw that same spirit in Franklin County, where the Jackson family sold at their very first market this year — with young James working the crowd on a chant of “Big value, small prices!” 

In Knott County, market manager Ande Newsome told us she loves the market because of “the community it has created; people coming together every week to catch up with friends and neighbors, share stories, and buy their white half runners.” Their pavilion has gotten so popular it can barely hold all the vendors anymore. In Perry County, FoodCorps members set up a card-making station so kids could thank their favorite farmers, including one young customer named Ruby, whose favorite purchase is “little tomatoes with Carrot Cash from Farmer Andee” (though her real favorite, she admitted, is Farmer Andee’s cookies). And in Hardin County, a Wednesday market drew a steady stream of families from 9:30 a.m. on, plus free ice cream for every visitor. 

Through FreshRx for Families in Franklin County, a grandmother told our team her daughter and five grandchildren look forward to the market every single week, and that with recent food safety concerns in the news, being able to buy directly from Kentucky farmers gives her family both financial relief and peace of mind. It’s one way farmers markets can include the whole community.  In Clark County, they participate in a gleaning program, letting those who frequent food banks have access the local, healthy nutritious food too.  As Community Farmers Market in Bowling Green says “It’s more than just a farmers market.” 

That’s what National Farmers Market Week means to us: farmers building something to be proud of, families finding fresh food they can count on, and neighbors turning a Tuesday evening or a Saturday morning into something worth showing up for. Thank you to every market, manager, farmer, and shopper who made this week, and every week, possible. 

Join our community at CFA, where we strive to support farmers and communities.   

Become a member!

When Rhonda and Brent Cornett started selling produce out of a corner of their tobacco barn in 2020, they had no idea that they were about to grow into one of Kentucky’s largest produce operations. Six years later, the Cornetts have a well-diversified family operation that includes a 250-acre vegetable farm, their London grocery store, Cornett’s Farm Fresh, and Alliance Packing KY, an aggregation and packing hub that ships produce to distribution centers supplying grocers throughout the region.

With a motto of “If It Were Any Fresher, It Would Still Be in the Field,” and a store conveniently located off KY-192, they are an ideal partner for Kentucky Double Dollars and an important player in the local food economy in southeastern Kentucky.

Rooted in Family and Community
Walking into the retail store, shoppers are greeted by a welcoming staff, colorful farm-themed murals drawn by local artist Amanda Brooks, and thoughtfully curated grocery items from local and regional businesses aligned with the Cornetts’ mission to offer fresh, high-quality food at affordable prices. They have an in-house bakery, deli, grab-and-go kitchen, handmade household products and gifts, a children’s section, and a wide variety of produce and meat. They sell bulk quantities of tomatoes and beans for canning and even have local ostrich meat, a protein source that has become popular with folks who have alpha gal because of its beef-like flavor. Nearly everything on the shelves is homemade, homegrown, or sourced from small local businesses.

The store has become a genuine gathering place, with a kids’ play area and seating that draws in moms’ groups, employee lunches, and neighbors just looking to sit and visit. The Cornetts also work with organizations like FeedingKY to help ensure that bumper crops and extra produce doesn’t go to waste.

The Kentucky Double Dollars program is central to Cornett’s community mission. By providing SNAP/EBT shoppers with up to $20 a day to spend on fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, and eggs, the program helps stretch grocery budgets for families in the area while attracting new shoppers to the store and boosting local produce, meat, eggs, and dairy sales.
When asked if Kentucky Double Dollars is an asset to her store, Rhonda Cornett explained:

“It definitely is. It sets me apart from some of the other retailers in the area, just being able to offer it. People truly feel like they get more bang for their buck.”

You can support local farmers and Kentucky Double Dollars by shopping at Cornett’s Farm Fresh and becoming a member of CFA today!