Double Up Food Bucks
Fair Food Network’s own Double Up Michigan team aims to help families bring home healthy fruits and vegetables while supporting Michigan farmers, in this case by working with grocers and food distribution networks to create more connections between what’s being grown locally and what’s available on store shelves. “Independent stores want to offer more fresh, local options, but they often don’t have the infrastructure, sourcing connections, or volume needed to access Michigan-grown produce consistently,” says Charles Walker, retail specialist. “They need support to bridge that gap—so they can be part of the solution in bringing healthy food closer to home.” Double Up Michigan aims to ensure the nearly 30 food retail locations in the city buy 20% or more locally grown produce during peak growing season in Michigan as a key requirement of being a part of the program. This helps build the market for Michigan farmers by driving demand for locally grown fruits and vegetables as part of the program model. Double Up Food Bucks in Michigan not only helps people using SNAP benefits but also supports farmer viability and keeps dollars circulating in local economies.
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While Danu Hof Family Farm is expanding its operations to meet growing demand, other awardees, such as 
to improve underserved communities for both people and pollinators by transforming blighted vacant lots into
The Hub’s capacity building awards are one way that Fair Food Network is supporting partners who are scaling innovations that contend with nutrition insecurity. As program partners demonstrate the value of these innovations, they are shared with others in the field. “One of the reasons we started the program during the pandemic is because so many federally funded programs were experiencing the same challenges like how to pay for PPE or pivot operations to meet COVID protocols,” says Fair Food Network’s Senior Director of Nutrition Incentives, Erica Christensen Raml. “Since then, the focus of the fund has evolved to continue meeting the changing times. We have found that certain barriers to program usage — like transportation issues or language access — are common program-wide.”
Together with our partners, Fair Food Network is supporting growing demand and helping nascent programs -— from Esperanza Community Farms in Watsonville, CA, to Knowledge Quest in Memphis, to Guahan Sustainable Culture in Guam — to explore innovative methods for service delivery and build organizational capacity to apply for and implement the large federal awards that make the impacts of nutrition incentive and produce prescription projects possible. And while each community’s program has the freedom to adapt to local needs, all — whether new or already established — are finding innovative ways to provide healthy food options for families who need it most, increase sales and expand the customer base for participating businesses, and produce more income for local farmers. “Capacity building grants give us a chance to provide additional support to communities that are innovating in scalable ways and can serve as models of resilience for the nutrition incentive field,” says Raml. “And they’re also a way to fund some really great ideas.”
Connecting Farmers and Communities
Highlight
Connecting Farmers and Communities
Michigan
With strawberries ubiquitous on supermarket shelves even in January, we tend to think of warm-weather states providing America’s fruit and vegetable bounty. A little-known fact is that Michigan, even with its northerly latitude and long winters, has the second most diverse agricultural output in the United States, offering more than 300 different commodities from more than 50,000 farms dotting the landscape from Detroit to the Upper Peninsula.
Our Fair Food Fund bolsters local food systems by supporting Michigan farmers in getting their produce to market, creating networks and partnerships that strengthen the needed infrastructure connecting communities to farmers and the abundance grown all around them. Fair Food Fund’s financing and technical assistance allowed two such enterprises, Great Lakes Farm to Freezer and Lakeshore Depot, the opportunity to bring more locally grown food to the communities where they live and beyond.
Great Lakes Farm to Freezer is a West Michigan processor distributing frozen produce exclusively sourced from Michigan farms to institutions, businesses, and families. Great Lakes Farm to Freezer’s commitment to supporting local agriculture includes offering local growers two and three times what other processors pay. A Fair Food Fund loan enabled the company to equip and outfit a new facility in Caledonia, Mich. that will support increased capacity for in-house production and enhance Great Lakes Farm to Freezer’s potential for expansion throughout the Great Lakes region.
Farther north, in the largely rural Upper Peninsula community of Marquette, Mich., Lakeshore Depot serves as a “farm stop” (a hybrid grocery store/farmers market) that exclusively features local and regional foods and seasonal, fresh produce. Lakeshore Depot currently sources from 48 local farmers — who receive 75% of the sale of their produce — and an additional 38 local food vendors. Fair Food Fund’s microloan in 2023 helped to prepare Lakeshore Depot for future financing that will support their long-term growth plan, including hiring a full-time manager and increasing product selection.
Even as these businesses broaden their offerings and expand their reach, they remain committed to their communities. Said Lakeshore Depot founder and owner, Mike Hainstock: “I wanted the store to have an impact felt throughout our local community, one that our community as a whole is excited about and carries real and positive change moving into the future.”