By Avery Martinez
Over the past year, shoppers at the Viroqua Farmers Market who receive federal food assistance have been able to make their money go twice as far.
The Viroqua program, called “Double Up Food Bucks,” is designed for those who receive federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which is housed under the farm bill currently moving through Congress.
“It’s super exciting to see people show up really eager to be a part of that,” said Elena Bird, a vegetable farm veteran and local member of the Vernon-Crawford Farmers Union of the Wisconsin Farmer’s Union. “We match people’s SNAP dollars that they receive to spend at market,” Bird said, up to $35.
“If somebody came to spend $35 of EBT (electronic benefits transfer), they’re able to spend $70 at the market that week,” Bird said. “And we’re seeing a lot of return shoppers.”
But after a proposed federal farm bill — the massive package of legislation that includes support for farmers as well as federal food assistance — moved out of committee last week, Bird and other farm workers are worried about the trickle-down effect of cuts to SNAP passed under the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025. Democrats have called for those cuts to be delayed in the farm bill, but the GOP-passed version left them intact.
Bird is sure there will be a direct impact to her community — and the Viroqua Farmers’ Market.
“Absolutely,” Bird said. “I think our local food co-op, other retailers, they’re all going to be affected if we lose access to SNAP even to the same degree that people have had it.”
Upwards of 70 percent of the cost of the farm bill goes toward nutrition programs, according to the U.S. Congresssional Budget Office.
Bird said that since the Double Up program launched last year, the market has seen at least a 20 percent increase in visitors. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, new work requirements went into effect this year. As of October 2027, the federal government would no longer guarantee full funding of the program.
“I think it all comes down to just people having choice and not needing to make these compromises that are really hard,” she said.
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