Racial/ethnic differences in the shopping behaviors and fruit and vegetable consumption of farmers' market incentive program users in Illinois

Introduction: Farmers' market incentive programs, such as Link Match, provide monetary incentives to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants to promote their use of local farmers' markets. Information on racial/ethnic differences in the shopping behaviors and fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption of farmers' market incentive program users is scarce. This research aimed to address this need by examining users of the Link Match incentive program in Illinois. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 328 Link Match users (39.6% non-Hispanic White; 45.4% non-Hispanic Black; and 15.0% other) was conducted in 2016 and 2017. Information on each participant's demographics, farmers' market shopping behaviors, and monthly frequency of FV consumption was collected from Link Match users. Chi-square and ANOVA tests were used to assess differences in farmers' market shopping measures by race/ethnicity. Logistic regression models were used to examine the association between race/ethnicity and frequency of FV consumption. Results: A significantly higher percentage of non-Hispanic Black participants reported being an infrequent farmers' market user (ie, shopping ≤ once a month) compared with non-Hispanic White and other participants (P=.01). After adjusting for covariates, non-Hispanic Black participants had lower odds of consuming fruit daily (OR: .44; 95% CI:.22-.86) compared with non-Hispanic White participants. Other participants had lower odds of consuming both fruit and vegetables compared with non-Hispanic White participants (OR: .30; 95% CI:.12-.71). Conclusions: Differences in shopping behaviors and FV consumption were observed by race/ethnicity among Link Match users. Future research should examine the nutritional implications of these differences.