North Coast Growers Association

Agriculture producer support and operation of certified farmers' markets:11 farmers' markets were open in 2023: "old town farmers' market" eureka, ca; "henderson center farmers' market" eureka, ca; "fortuna farmers' market" fortuna, ca; "mckinleyville farmers' market" mckinleyville, ca; willow creek farmers' market" willow creek, ca; "arcata plaza farmers' market" located on the plaza in arcata, ca; "shelter cove farmers' market" shelter cove, ca; "miranda farmers' market" miranda,ca; and "garberville farmers' market", garberville, ca; "blue lake market" blue lake, ca; "friday night market" eureka, ca . Over 200 local farmers participate in these markets. Over 4,500 customers attend weekly. Employees of ncga staff these farmers' markets. We provide technical assistance and training opportunities to our farmers to improve business practices and ensure access to available funding and resources for farmers.in 2023, 12 events and workshops were held, featuring 15 local, state and national agricultural service providers and 15 guest speakers that served 331 farmers and farm workers.

Nutrition education and access programs: market match nutrition incentive program: provides nutrition vouchers and tokens to low-income community members. All the farmers' markets named above participate in this program. Ncga staff determines income eligibility and enrollment in the above listed assistance programs and provides a designated amount of tokens or vouchers for the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables only at farmers' markets. Customers spend the script with the farmers and the farmers redeem these with market staff. This program is funded in part with grants from the California department of food and agriculture through the California nutrition incentive program (cnip), the federal gus schumacher nutrition incentive program (gusnip formerly called fini), a local health center network (open door community health centers) and a local community centers. We see an average of over 500 individual calfresh recipients participating in the program weekly, with over 10,000 individuals participating in 2023. Ncga staff also facilitates a weekly harvest box, multi-farm csa style produce box distribution through our farmers' market locations and by delivery. Produce is aggregated from farmers and sold to customers, some of whom use calfresh for the purchase and receive a 50% discount through the market match program. Over 200 local family farms benefit from calfresh spending at farmers' markets; a total of $174,297 market match dollars were spent at these 11 farmers' markets in 2023.

Nutrition education and access programs: calfresh outreach program, administrative efforts to promote calfresh and enroll individuals in the calfresh program (including advertising, outreach, educational activities such as field trips and market tours) as well as the processing of calfresh benefits through the "ebt" system (customers swipe their ebt cards through a point of sale device that debits the customer card and electronically deposits the daily total into ncga bank account). All the farmers' markets named above participate in this program. Ncga staff facilitates tokens (the calfresh benefits), which are issued to customers and then spent with the farmers; farmers redeem these with market staff. This program is funded in part through a grant from the humboldt county department of health and human services. The target population for this program is all low-income residents of humboldt county. We see an average of over 500 individual calfresh recipients participating in the program weekly, with over 15,000 unique individuals participating in 2023. Over 200 local family farms benefit from calfresh spending at farmers' markets; a total of $259,952 calfresh dollars were spent at these 11 farmers' markets in 2023.

Food distribution:the harvest box program was developed in 2020 to bridge gaps in our local food system exacerbated by the pandemic. The harvest box program has led to strengthened connections with local resources, community, and health centers. It has helped ncga re-spark a regional conversation about food security and emergency preparedness that has led to the creation of harvest hub, a food hub responsible for the ordering, aggregation, and distribution of local food, providing connections between farmers and wholesale buyers like institutions, restaurants, and other organizations and agencies. We assist with the ordering, aggregation, storage, and distribution of local farm products, creating market opportunities for our members and wholesale buyers in 2023 ncga opened the region's first food hub, facilitating produce purchases from local farmers for schools, community centers, restaurants and more by offering cold storage space and produce delivery.