In 2025, 11.3 million USDA summer meals were served in Kentucky, with Kentucky meal sponsors receiving $48 million in federal reimbursements. Summer meals are a great opportunity for farms and farmers markets to connect with families in your community. Whether your purpose is selling food products to be served in meals, or to increase education about farming, or to connect with families to market your products directly, participating in summer meals programming could help your farm or market achieve some goals.
As the lead organization in the Kentucky Farm to School Network, CFA is promoting participation in Kentucky Farm to Summer Meals Celebration Week June 21-27, a joint event between CFA, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, the Kentucky Department of Education and Feeding Kentucky. During this week, summer meal sponsors are encouraged to serve locally grown farm foods in meals and to offer ag education and gardening activities.
Accepting SNAP and Kentucky Double Dollars (KDD) at your farm stand or farmers market is a powerful way to grow your customer base and increase your sales. With Kentucky Double Dollars, SNAP customers can double their spending power by up to $20 per day—meaning more dollars flowing directly into your business.
Why offer SNAP and SNAP KDD?
Earn More Income: Every Kentucky Double Dollars redemption translates into real revenue from your products
Attract New Customers: Position your farm or market as a reliable source of affordable, healthy food
Support Your Community: Help families access fresh, locally grown produce while strengthening Kentucky’s food system
If you’re ready to get started but aren’t sure how, we’ve got you covered.
Join the SNAP Cohort
The SNAP Cohort is a free webinar series for Kentucky farm stands and farmers markets interested in accepting SNAP. In this first session, you’ll learn:
How to apply for a SNAP permit
What to expect during the application process
What equipment you’ll need, including free point-of-sale options
This is the first of three sessions in a yearlong cohort, where you’ll also receive hands-on technical assistance and connect with peers working toward the same goals.
The Farmers Market Support Program hosted our annual Farmers Market Gathering on February 13. The Fayette County Extension Office was vibrant with energy as more than 70 farmers market leaders from across the state gathered for a day of learning, collaboration, and inspiration.
The day featured insightful presentations from UK Cooperative Extension Service agents, who shared updates, resources, and strategies to support thriving markets. Chelsey Brock from Feeding Kentucky shared opportunities for collaboration to increase food access across communities. Margie Stelzer, CFA’s Kentucky Double Dollars Administrator, presented on the impact and expansion of the Kentucky Double Dollars program, emphasizing how incentive programs boost both farmer revenue and healthy food access statewide.
After the morning sessions, participants enjoyed a delicious meal provided by Alfalfa’s, which offered a fresh, locally inspired spread.
Attendees then moved into breakout sessions tailored to practical, real-world market needs. A sharing circle on community partnerships encouraged open dialogue about building strong local relationships with health departments, tourism, nonprofits, state parks, local businesses, and more. Growers and managers explored tools and techniques for extending the market season during an engaging workshop led by Grow Appalachia, focusing on season extension strategies that help farmers markets increase profitability and consistency.
Meanwhile, Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (KCARD) guided participants through the business side of farmers markets: covering governance, financial sustainability, vendor management, and long-term planning.
Beyond the formal sessions, the gathering fostered meaningful peer-to-peer exchange. Market leaders shared successes, challenges, and creative solutions, leaving with renewed energy and actionable ideas to implement in their own communities. One participant shared that “we always enjoy the gathering, but this was the best one yet!”
Thank you to every participant and partner for making the gathering a huge success! We can’t wait to see y’all next year!
Jim Gilles grew up in Owensboro, KY, where his family raised beef cattle. When he came back to the family farm, he noticed customers wanted access to locally raised beef, but many hesitated to buy a half or quarter of beef. Not everyone could afford or store that much meat at once. So, he started selling individual cuts of beef at Owensboro Regional Farmers Market on Saturdays during the summers.
What started with his own beef soon expanded to raising chickens and incorporating pork, milk, and cheese from other farmers alongside his market offerings. By 2016, seasonal Saturdays had expanded into a year-round, on-farm retail store carrying milk, cheese, pork, and produce. Today, Hill View Farms Market a reliable place for people to pick up products from more than 20 local farms.
Setting up an on-farm store started when a vacant house on the farm became available. Jim and his family had considered renting it, but they decided to take a chance and turn it into a storefront instead. “We didn’t have anything to lose,” Jim said. “If it didn’t work, we’d just fall back on renting the house out.”
Happily, the on-farm store worked. As Hill View gained traction and a loyal customer base, Jim added SNAP as a payment option around five years ago. He knew the importance of making local food more accessible and saw how programs like Kentucky Double Dollars (KDD) helped shoppers stretch their benefits at the farmers market. benefits used at the market.
When he heard CFA would be piloting on-farm markets and roadside stands, Jim was excited to sign on. In 2025, Hill View Farms Market began offering Kentucky Double Dollars to allow SNAP customers to double up to $20 of their
“I kind of knew what I was getting into,” he said, having seen the program in action at the Owensboro Regional Farmers Market. He worked closely with CFA staff to understand the required reporting and design a system that fit how Hill View already operated. “Honestly, getting SNAP was more difficult than figuring out how to do KDD at the store.”
Using a simple voucher system—dated and tracked with stubs—Hill View began offering KDD, making it easier for SNAP shoppers to return, redeem vouchers, and buy more.
“It helped folks who use SNAP to come to the store more often and buy more,” Jim explained.
Hill View’s SNAP sales continue to grow gradually, and the store is committed to welcoming more shoppers who want fresh, local food from Kentucky farms.
For other farm stores considering the program, Hill View’s experience shows that with the right support, it’s possible to make KDD work for on-farm retail, too—not just for farmers markets. If you have a farm market or roadside stand and are interested in offering incentives, check out Kentucky Double Dollars here: https://kentuckydoubledollars.org/retailer-or-farm-stand-information/. CFA can can work with you to accept SNAP if you are interested!
Building Community Resilience, One Market at a Time: Red River Gorge Farmers Market and Kentucky Double Dollars
When the Red River Gorge Farmers Market (RRGFM) opened in 2019, it began with a vision: grow a farmers market that not only serves the local community, but strengthens the people growing the food. Nestled in Slade, Kentucky, a region better known for its natural beauty than access to fresh produce, the market became a gathering space and a lifeline.
But like many small rural markets, RRGFM faced a challenge: How do you serve a low-income community while still sustaining your vendors?
That’s where the Kentucky Double Dollars (KDD) program made a difference.
Meeting the Moment
In 2023, as RRGFM planned for its third season, the team applied to join the KDD program, which matches SNAP, WIC, and Senior nutrition benefits for fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and more. They were accepted, and immediately began the work of onboarding vendors, setting up outreach, and integrating the program into market operations.
Fast forward to 2025—now in their fifth season and third year as a KDD market—and the results speak volumes. Sales are up. Farmer participation is strong. And most importantly, more people in the community are able to access the food they want to eat.
As Market Leader Jann Knappage puts it:
“I see KDD as a program that helps bolster community resilience while making the work of small-scale growers more sustainable. It’s about neighbors supporting neighbors.”
Shared Success
In 2025, RRGFM offered multiple KDD-eligible products—from fruits and vegetables to meats, eggs, and dairy—through SNAP and other KDD matching. This not only gave customers more choices, it also helped farmer vendors expand their income, improve predictability, and feel more invested in the long-term viability of the market.
The market used KDD not just as a financial tool, but as part of a broader strategy to center food access and farmer well-being together.
Customers using SNAP, Senior Nutrition, and WIC could stretch their dollars
Farmers could sell more of what they grow, knowing their customers could afford it
The market could measure impact, helping to secure local support and funding
This is the power of KDD—not a one-time boost, but a platform that markets can build from.
A Note of Thanks
This success story was possible because of collaboration—from the farmers and organizers on the ground to the funders who believe in long-term investment in local food systems.
CFA and RRGFM extend deep thanks to:
USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund
Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky
Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky
And individual supporters—people like you, who believe in the future of Kentucky’s farmers and communities.
What’s Next
As markets across Kentucky prepare for 2026, stories like Red River Gorge show what’s possible when markets are trusted with resources, and farmers are seen as key players in food access work—not just producers, but community leaders.
Programs like KDD don’t just grow sales—they grow stability. They grow relationships, and they grow a food system rooted in dignity.
Want to support markets like Red River Gorge and help expand KDD across the state? Become a member of CFA today!
