Inside Chico Natural Foods Co-op is a colorful and bright array of fruits and vegetables — everything from bell peppers to dragonfruit to tango mandarins. Many of these items were grown in the state, some even by farmers in the Chico area.
Some of the Co-op’s shoppers have been able to purchase California grown fruits and vegetables at half price. And starting today, this produce will be even more affordable.
CalFresh recipients now get a 75% discount at the Co-op on all fruits and vegetables grown in the state.
The discount is made possible through additional state grant funding the store has received through the Matching On Regional Eats (MORE) program.
Michael Nalin, the Co-op’s fresh manager who oversees produce, said that organic and local produce can often be too expensive for low-income residents.
“We exist to serve the community, but we also have these standards for our product that make it an uncomfortable price for a lot of shoppers that are in our direct community,” he said.
More than 12% of Butte County residents use some form of state nutrition assistance program. And almost 13% of residents face food insecurity, according to data from the county’s most recent Community Health Assessment report. Both of these numbers are higher than the state average.
Nalin said the MORE program generally helps make healthy, organic and locally grown food more accessible to people facing food insecurity, meaning they don’t have reliable and consistent access to sufficient food sources.
“We strive to be an egalitarian model, and we really care about being accessible to our community, and so this is a move in the right direction for us to have more affordable product in our store without sacrificing our sort of standards of quality and cleanliness,” he said.
Additionally, Nalin said the MORE program helps support local farmers the Co-op buys products from. Shoppers are more likely to purchase the local goods and support producers if they are sold at a similar price to regular grocery items, he said.
“These small farms locally don't have the same setup as these giant farms with migrant workers and huge economies of scale; they're trying to operate on a much smaller level and paying higher wages,” Nalin said. “If we can support that with a little bit of federal subsidy, we are happy to do it.”
The Co-op first opened in the ‘70s as a natural grocer. It’s community owned and prioritizes curating local products in the store. Nalin feels shopping at area grocery stores like the Co-op puts money back into the community.
“We really want the entire community to shop here, no matter how much money they have in their pocket,” he said.
How the MORE program works
When shopping for produce, CalFresh recipients can find which fruit and vegetable items are discounted at the Co-op by looking for the MORE label. It’s placed right next to produce price tags.
Shoppers don’t need to sign up for anything to participate in the program. When checking out, all they need to do is let the cashier know they’ll be paying with an EBT card. All the cashier has to do is press a button at the register.
The program does have a daily purchase cap. Shoppers can only buy $60 worth of produce through MORE at a time. That cap used to be $40 before the discount increased.
The MORE program is funded through the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CDFA) California Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP). It’s meant to encourage people to purchase fruits and vegetables grown in the state.
“California is the bread basket of our nation,” Nalin said. “Even if we weren't focused on local items, like we historically have been, we would carry a ton of California produce.”
CNIP gives farmers markets and small businesses like the Co-op grant funding to create incentives like discounts for people using state-provided nutrition assistance. The CDFA recently awarded the Co-op with an additional grant, which extended the program through the end of 2025.
The Co-op was the first retail store in Butte County to form a partnership with the CDFA back in 2019. Nalin said that the MORE program is considered rare in the state.
“We're a very early adopter of it. There weren't really other markets in the state, and definitely not in the county,” Nalin said.
The following year, the MORE program went live, and according to the store, the Co-op supplied almost $160,000 in discounts.
