Camilla Forte/Borderless Magazine/Catchlight Local/Report for AmericaSome vendors at farmers markets brace for a dip in revenue this summer, following funding cuts and changes to SNAP eligibility that made many immigrants no longer eligible for food assistance.
Summers are the busiest time of year for Stephanie Rodriguez, who co-owns Los Rodriguez Farms with her family in Eau Claire, Michigan.
It is farmers market season, and that means the family often loads their trucks with produce as early as 3 a.m. to drive two hours to markets in the Chicagoland area.
They sell at 11 Chicagoland farmers markets, which generates nearly all of the farm’s revenue. About a third of their sales come from low-income customers who use federal food assistance benefits to buy food from Los Rodriguez Farms.
This year, she worries that share might dip — and with it, total sales.
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With the farmers market season underway, some local farmers and food vendors who accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits as payment, like Stephanie, anticipate that recent eligibility changes affecting immigrants and low-income households, and funding cuts, could lower their sales this summer.
The changes left thousands of immigrants ineligible for federal food assistance, prompting some farmers and vendors to worry that the changes could lead to a decline in customers who account for a large share of their revenue.
Rising food insecurity and the economic strain
SNAP provides food benefits to low-income families. In Illinois, over 1 million households receive SNAP benefits and 125,000 receive WIC, a federal nutrition program for eligible women, infants and children.
But recent eligibility changes to the SNAP program have reduced the number of people receiving food assistance.
About 120,000 Illinois residents — 16,000 of whom were immigrants and refugees with legal protected status — have lost SNAP benefits due to the new eligibility changes, according to the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Others have lost SNAP benefits due to stricter work eligibility requirements implemented by the federal government.
Last year, President Donald Trump’s “One Beautiful Bill Act” changed SNAP eligibility and cut federal SNAP funding by $186 billion through 2034 — a reduction of about 20% — to partially pay for tax cuts laid out in the new law.
In the six months following the bill’s passage in July 2025, SNAP participation nationwide dropped by approximately 3 million people, or about 8%.
But advocates warn that additional cuts could be on the way. A new Farm Bill could cut another $6 billion from SNAP and $200 million from WIC, if passed.
Elaine Waxman, senior fellow in the tax and income supports division at the Urban Institute, said she expects the decrease in SNAP participants to ripple through the local economy immediately. SNAP benefits tend to be spent close to home — at grocery stores, with local producers, through transportation. Every dollar distributed through SNAP generates about $1.5 in economic activity, according to a 2019 USDA report.
“If [vendors] have a significant percentage of SNAP customers, which many of them do, then it’s very concerning, just the way any other shift in the economy would make you worry about losing customers,” said Waxman.
Waxman also said she expects food insecurity to increase this year, driven by rising food costs and fewer SNAP beneficiaries, based on trends she has seen over the last few years. One in four adults reported household food insecurity over the last few years, according to a survey on food insecurity conducted by Waxman.
Reduced benefits could impact what SNAP recipients buy, with some turning to cheaper, more calorie-dense, less nutritious foods, Waxman said.
The push to offset the strain
To encourage SNAP participants to buy healthy foods, the Link Match program was founded 15 years ago to increase their purchasing power at certain farmers’ markets across the state. SNAP recipients can use their benefits to obtain vouchers for double the amount they wish to spend and use those vouchers to shop for fruits, vegetables, mushrooms and plants that produce food at participating markets or grocery stores.
Last year, SNAP recipients redeemed more than $2.2 million in Link Match, up from about $1.4 million the previous year.
Green City Market in the West Loop and Lincoln Park runs an initiative called Green City Market For All, which triples the value of SNAP recipients’ benefits — up to a $25 match — to encourage them to buy nutritious, locally grown food.
Ella Wischnewsky, food access manager at Green City Market, said the number of SNAP participants using Link Match at Green City Market in May this year, compared to May last year, has remained flat, while matches through Link Match have ticked up slightly.
Despite a slight uptick in Link Match distributions, Wischnewsky anticipates a decline in total participation from SNAP recipients this year due to the changes in the program.
“Many of our existing customers have expressed fear about losing benefits and frustrations in navigating the exemption process,” said Wischnewsky. “Immigrants, older Chicagoans and families have lost the chance to use Green City Market For All. Our vendors rely on this program.”
For vendors selling Link Match-eligible food — fruits, vegetables, mushrooms and food-producing plants — that growth in redemptions has translated directly into higher sales, several vendors told Borderless Magazine.
Typically, more than one-third of Andrew’s Heirlooms’ sales at Chicago farmers’ markets come from purchases from customers using Link Match — sometimes reaching 45% in late summer as more people show up at the Uptown Farmers Market, according to Melissa Greene, who operates the farm with her husband.
Thomas Eich of the Kankakee Valley Homestead said he typically sees the highest Link Match purchases at Green City Markets in Lincoln Park and the West Loop, accounting for about 15% of his total sales at the market.
By comparison, vendors who accept SNAP but aren’t part of Link Match told Borderless that SNAP sales typically account for 10% or less of their total revenue at markets.
“Before that program started, we didn’t really see a lot of SNAP benefits used, but now, since they did last year, the Link Match and how they would double it, more people were like excited to shop,” said Rodriguez.
‘It’s just a really tough time’
Even as Link Match helps drive sales for participating vendors, some worry that eligibility changes could still shrink their customer base.
“Whether they’re directly impacted or whether they’re just scared of what’s to come, we’re seeing an impact there,” said Matthew Ruffi, the senior program manager at Link Up Illinois, which runs the Link Match program, and the owner of the Uptown Farmers Market. “Then you couple that with increasing food prices in general, and it’s just a really tough time.”
Rodriguez is already seeing that impact.
The last time she cashed out three weeks’ worth of SNAP payments, the total came in about 25% lower than usual.
“Last year we would get a lot of those Link Match customers, and this year it’s like we do get them, but not as much,” she said.
In response, Illinois is stepping up to help address food insecurity amid the changes to SNAP. The state is investing $70 million to create the Families Receiving Emergency Support for Hunger (FRESH) program. It will provide a one‑time emergency payment of $400 to 120,000 people who have already lost SNAP due to the federal eligibility changes.
Ruffi at the Uptown Farmers Market and Jeffrey Tabels, who manages the Lincoln Square Farmers Market, are glad to see both familiar and new faces at their markets this summer. Still, Ruffi says it is too soon to tell the impact SNAP changes have had on farmers and vendors at farmers markets so far this season.
Rodriguez has been trying to drum up more awareness on her own. “I’ve been thinking about putting signs up… that we take Link here and SNAP,” she said, noting she’s already made some for her stand.
Aydali Campa es miembro de Report for America y cubre temas de justicia medioambiental y comunidades inmigrantes para Borderless Magazine. Envía un correo electrónico a Aydali a [email protected].
