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<\/p>\nFood justice advocates said that in May alone, the program served 95,520 California households.<\/p>\n
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The CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT Program provides CalFresh recipients with up to $60 a month of free produce each month.\u00a0(Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Those people are now at risk of losing access to that support as funds whittle down. The state budget is set to be finalized on June 15, and \u201cas far as we know, there is no continued funding that has been proposed,\u201d Marquez-Nieblas said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen this program ends, we\u2019ll have less money to spend, [at] a time when groceries are incredibly more expensive. Gas is more expensive. Everything is more expensive,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just, unfortunately, a compounding effect. There\u2019s lots of stuff that\u2019s impacting the same people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The program is simple to use: When customers purchase food at participating markets<\/a>, like Arteaga\u2019s Food Center in San Jos\u00e9, they just swipe their EBT (electronic benefit transfer) card.<\/p>\n For every purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables with that card, customers receive an instant rebate each month, applied to their card. The rebate money can be spent on any food or goods covered by CalFresh, like meat, eggs and dairy \u2014 it is not limited to fruits and vegetables.<\/p>\n Marquez-Nieblas explained that the pilot program has been implemented in three phases \u2014 the latest of which received a limited, one-time allocation of $36 million from the state budget. That seems like a large number, \u201cuntil we realize that there are hundreds of thousands of individuals across the state using the program.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been proven many times that CalFresh \u2014 and programs like this that support people having more money for food \u2014 are incredibly impactful for lifting children out of poverty, for supporting seniors with limited incomes, for anybody,\u201d Marquez-Nieblas said. \u201cFoundationally, these programs are good. They\u2019re good for public health.\u201d<\/p>\n Food policy advocates said they are hoping for $100 million for the program to continue to operate year-round. Instead, it was reappropriated around $4.8 million \u2014 the remaining funds from last year\u2019s budget cycle, in Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s \u201cMay Revise\u201d proposal, according to H.D. Palmer, spokesperson for the California Department of Finance.<\/p>\n \u201cThe program will operate until funds are fully utilized,\u201d Palmer said in an email to KQED.<\/p>\n The program\u2019s end would come at a particularly stressful time for CalFresh recipients. This month, for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, California has begun enforcing new and expanded federal guidelines <\/a>that require some CalFresh recipients to work 20 hours a week, or an average of 80 hours a month \u2014 with a stark reduction in food benefits for those who don\u2019t.<\/p>\n The changes were prompted by the passing of President Donald Trump\u2019s H.R.1<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only does it add in the onerous work requirement \u2014 a lot of people who are already receiving CalFresh are working \u2014 but now they have this bureaucratic paperwork to provide,\u201d said Kathy Saile, California director of national nonprofit No Kid Hungry. \u201cThere\u2019s some real concern that people could lose benefits just because they couldn\u2019t figure out the paperwork.\u201d<\/p>\n H.R. 1\u2019s impact, which also cuts food benefits for some refugees and asylum seekers<\/a>, is apparent, according to federal data analyzed by the nonpartisan research group Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CalFreshGetty.jpg\")
A cropped photo of a female hand carrying a shopping basket while choosing vegetables at a supermarket. Grocery shopping concept. (Oscar Wong\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
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A family shops for groceries in Pinole, California. (Farida Jhabvala Romero\/KQED)<\/p>\n