A strange scene unfolded at the Adams\/Vermont farmers market near USC last week. <\/p>\n
The pomegranates, squash and apples were in season, pink guavas were so ripe you could smell their heady scent from a distance, and nutrient-packed yams were ready for the holidays.<\/p>\n
But with federal funding in limbo for the 1.5 million people in Los Angeles County who depend on food aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program \u2014 or SNAP \u2014 the church parking lot hosting the market was largely devoid of customers.<\/p>\n
Even though the market accepts payments through CalFresh, the state\u2019s SNAP program, hardly anyone was lined up when gates opened. Vendors mostly idled alone at their produce stands.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A line of cars stretches more than a mile as people wait to receive a box of free food provided by the L.A. Food Bank in the City of Industry on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
(Genaro Molina\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
As thousands across Southern California lined up at food banks to collect free food<\/a>, and the fight over delivering the federal allotments<\/a> sowing uncertainty, fewer people receiving aid seemed to be spending money at outdoor markets like this one. <\/p>\n \u201cSo far we\u2019re doing 50% of what we\u2019d normally do \u2014 or less,\u201d said Michael Bach, who works with Hunger Action, a food-relief nonprofit that partners with farmers markets across the greater L.A. area, offering \u201cMarket Match\u201d deals to customers paying with CalFresh debit cards.<\/p>\n The deal allows shoppers to buy up to $30 worth of fruit produce for only $15. Skimming a ledger on her table, Bach\u2019s colleague Estrellita Echor noted that only a handful of shoppers had taken advantage of the offer. <\/p>\n All week at farmers markets where workers were stationed, the absence was just as glaring, she said. \u201cI was at Pomona on Saturday \u2014 we only had six transactions the whole day,\u201d she said. \u201cZero at La Mirada.\u201d<\/p>\n CalFresh customers looking to double their money on purchases were largely missing at the downtown L.A. market the next day, Echor said.<\/p>\n A volunteer loads up a box of free food for a family at a drive-through food distribution site in the City of Industry.<\/p>\n (Genaro Molina\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n \u201cThis program usually pulls in lots of people, but they are either holding on to what little they have left or they just don\u2019t have anything on their cards,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The disruption in aid comes as a result of the Trump administration\u2019s decision to deliver only partial SNAP payments to states during the ongoing federal government shutdown, skirting court order to restart funds for November<\/a>. On Friday night, Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily blocked the order<\/a> pending a ruling on the matter by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.<\/p>\n But by then, CalFresh had already started loading 100% of November\u2019s allotments <\/a>onto users\u2019 debit cards. Even with that reprieve for food-aid recipients in California, lack of access to food is a persistent problem in L.A., said Kayla de la Haye, director of the Institute for Food System Equity <\/a>at USC. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n