ORIGINAL RESEARCH

The Impact of New York City’s Health Bucks Program on Electronic Benefit Transfer Spending at Farmers Markets, 2006–2009

Year	Markets with EBT Not Accepting Health Bucks, $ (No. of Market Days)	Markets with EBT Accepting Health Bucks, $ (No. of Market Days)	P Value
All years	274 (396)	383 (672)	<.001
2006	161 (36)	95 (84)	.004
2007	381 (40)	109 (137)	<.001
2008	212 (100)	397 (172)	<.001
2009	301 (220)	596 (279)	<.001

Figure 1. Average daily EBT sales at New York City farmers markets with and without the Health Bucks incentive, from 2006 through 2009. From 2006 through 2007, Health Bucks coupons were distributed primarily through community-based organizations. From 2008 through 2009, they were distributed primarily as an incentive for using EBT at farmers markets. Values are in dollars (followed by number of market days) and represent average sales per market day. Abbreviation: EBT, electronic benefit transfer.

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Market	EBT Sales Before Market Accepted Health Bucks, $ (No. Market Days)	EBT Sales After Market Accepted Health Bucks, $ (No. Market Days)	P Value
Market A	$341 (36)	$1,608 (41)	< .001
Market B	$18 (5)	$67 (57)	.794
Market C	$48 (9)	$214 (21)	.298
Market D	$190 (19)	$449 (21)	.041

Figure 2. Average daily EBT sales at select New York City farmers markets before and after markets accepted Health Bucks, from 2006 through 2009. Analysis is limited to markets that accepted EBT both before and after accepting Health Bucks. Values are in dollars (followed by number of market days) and represent average sales per market day. Abbreviation: EBT, electronic benefit transfer.

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