The match money that stretches a SNAP shopper's dollars at Kitsap County farmers markets got cut in half this year, and four markets are now improvising to keep EBT customers coming through the gate.
Silverdale Farmers Market takes a different approach, running the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program and WIC benefits instead of the SNAP match, serving a different slice of Kitsap's food-assistance population rather than SNAP recipients directly.
None of these are large numbers next to a supermarket's daily traffic, but market managers describe them as a meaningful, repeat customer base, people who show up specifically because the match makes the produce affordable, not incidental shoppers who happen to also qualify for SNAP.
That's a fundamentally different kind of funding than the state program it's replacing, discretionary rather than guaranteed, and it isn't something a market can count on before the next cycle actually votes.
Bob Ferguson's office has said Washington households scheduled to receive November SNAP benefits got 100% of their allocations, with another $86.8 million in planned benefits by Nov.
Washington's SNAP Market Match dropped from $25 to $10 this year. Bremerton kept its full match through a giving-circle donation; Port Orchard is fundraising to get back there. A look at how four Kitsap markets are handling the same cut four different ways.