Where to use CalFresh Market Match in Bay Area 2025? Need updated list of fruit & veggie incentive locations

The official Market Match website (marketmatch.org) should have the most current list, but you're right, sometimes they're slow to update. For Oakland specifically, I know Grand Lake Farmers Market, Jack London Square Farmers Market, and Temescal Farmers Market all participate in Market Match. They offer a dollar-for-dollar match up to $15-20 per market day when you use your EBT card. Berkeley has three that I know of: Berkeley Farmers Markets at North Berkeley BART (Saturday), Downtown Berkeley (Saturday), and South Berkeley (Tuesday).\n\nAlso, some grocery stores like Mandela Grocery Cooperative in West Oakland also have a similar program where they match CalFresh dollars for produce purchases. I think they do a 50% match on produce up to a certain amount.

Thank you SO much!! This helps a lot. I'm going to try the Grand Lake one this weekend since it's closest to me. Do you know if I need to do anything special at the market or just tell them I want to use Market Match with my EBT card? In Sacramento they gave me special tokens to use.

when i was at the berkeley market last week they said their match went up to $30 now for 2025! you just swipe ur ebt at the info booth and they give u tokens for both the ebt amount and the match amount. the blue ones r for anything ebt eligible but the green match tokens r just for fruits/veggies

Whoa, $30 is a lot better than the $15 match I was getting before! That's awesome news. Thanks for the info about the different colored tokens too.

FoodMaxx stores are now offering what they call \

I've been trying to call the Ecology Center for THREE WEEKS and can't get anyone! Either busy signal or it just rings forever. So frustrating when you're just trying to figure out where you can use your benefits. There should be a better way to get this information.

Have you tried using Claimyr? I was having the same problem trying to reach my county office about my CalFresh benefits. Claimyr.com actually waits on hold for you and calls you back when someone answers. Saved me hours of hold time. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8 that shows how it works. Not sure if it works for the Ecology Center specifically but worth a try if you're desperate.

Why is the Bay Area SO CONFUSING with these programs?? I've been on CalFresh for 2 years and just learned about Market Match last month from another mom at my kid's school. Nobody at the benefits office ever mentioned it! I went to Richmond Farmers Market and they do it there too - match up to $20 when you spend your EBT. The produce is way better quality than the discount stores too.\n\nI think there's also some program at Whole Foods where they give a discount if you show your EBT card but I'm not 100% sure how that works or if it's at all locations.

YES! I hate how they never tell us about these extra benefits! I only found out about all these programs because my neighbor works for a food bank. There's also something called CalFresh Healthy Living that has cooking classes and they give you free groceries sometimes. And WIC too if you have kids under 5.

I had no idea about the Whole Foods discount! I'll have to look into that. And yeah, it's crazy how these programs aren't better advertised to actual EBT users. Thanks for the Richmond tip too!

THE UPDATED LIST NEVER GETS UPDATED ON TIME!!!! It makes me SO MAD. I contacted the county office and they said to check the CDSS website, which sends me to the Market Match website, which has 2023 info. It's like nobody wants to help us actually use our benefits effectively.\n\nOne place NOT on any list that DOES accept Market Match is the small farmers market at Fruitvale BART station on Tuesdays and Saturdays. They match up to $15. Also the Alameda farmers market matches up to $20 now. I keep my own list because I can't trust the official ones lol.

Thank you for mentioning Fruitvale! That's actually not far from me. Do you know what time the Saturday one runs? And I totally feel your frustration with the outdated info. It shouldn't be this hard to find places where we can stretch our food benefits.

Quick update for 2025 programs - there are some new additions to the Bay Area Market Match network:\n\n1. The San Leandro Farmers Market started offering Market Match this January (up to $15 match)\n\n2. Berkeley Bowl (both locations) now has a similar program called \

Berkeley Bowl is great news! I love their produce selection. Do you know if you need to sign up for their program in advance or can you just show your EBT card at checkout?

i took a picture of the sign at my farmers market with all the 2025 locations!! i can text it to you if you want. theres like 20 markets in the bay area that do the match program now. some give you $15 extra some give $20 depends on the market. the one in alameda is really good and takes ebt and gives you the match tokens

That would be amazing! Is there a way to share it here? Or maybe you could just list a few of the markets that might be near Oakland? Really appreciate the help!

One thing to be aware of - there's Market Match (the official program) AND there are individual market incentive programs that work similarly but aren't part of the official network. For example, the Old Oakland Friday market does a

ya and some places call it different things! theres

I don't have WIC (no kids) but good to know about the Friday market in Old Oakland! Thanks for clarifying the different program names too.

Hey Jacob! I'm new to CalFresh and just moved to the Bay Area too (from LA). This thread has been SO helpful - I had no idea about Market Match at all! I'm in San Francisco and wondering if anyone knows which farmers markets here participate? I saw mentions of Oakland and Berkeley markets but nothing about SF specifically. Also, does anyone know if the Castro Farmers Market or the one at UN Plaza do the matching program? My caseworker never mentioned any of this when I applied. It's frustrating how these programs seem like such well-kept secrets when they could really help people like us stretch our food budgets!