GRANBY — The smoke blown in from the Canadian wildfires cleared just in time for local farmers and state officials to celebrate a significant milestone in the popular nutrition incentive program known as HIP — the sale of $100 million in fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables since the initiative launched nine years ago.

Just outside the fields of Red Fire Farm in Granby, local and state politicians reflected on 2017 collaboration that established the Massachusetts Healthy Incentive Program, the nation’s first local produce-based food assistance program.

“It’s a program everyone can believe in,” said HIP Director Mia Kortebein.

HIP was created to increase resident access to local produce and support small farms across the commonwealth. It gives Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollees extra funds for local foods. In return, farmers have a consistent client base and revenue stream. These transactions also stimulate the economy while keeping money in the state, officials said Thursday.

Any person signed up for SNAP is automatically enrolled in HIP. Each month, participants receive a $40, $60 or $80 credit, depending on family size, for fresh fruits and vegetables at 500 pickup locations statewide, as long as 1 cent remains on their EBT card.

Before it became one of the first farms to join HIP, Red Fire Farm co-owner Sarah Voiland said attendance at farmers’ markets was dwindling. The program helped reverse that trend for the family-owned farm. Now the farm sells around $2,000 in HIP money at each Springfield Farmers Market and $1,000 per Northampton Farmers Market. This does not include those who redeem their HIP benefits at the farm’s headquarters at 7 Carver St.

“I’m very proud of Massachusetts because I think that this state and the people here make programs like HIP that are very creative for solving problems for farms and problems for the community,” Voiland said.

Western Massachusetts in particular reaps HIP’s rewards. The Massachusetts Food Access Report found that 48% of households in Franklin and Hampshire counties are food insecure. The same area has the highest percentage of farmland in the state, with 1,451 farms shared across both counties, according to the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources.

“HIP provides a way for Massachusetts residents to stretch their dollar,” Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) Commissioner Michael Cole said. “But at its best, it’s transformative.”

While farms and food assistance recipients directly benefit from HIP, the entire community also feels its impact. Sen. Jake Oliveira, D-Ludlow, notes that every dollar spent on HIP returns twofold in economic activity.

“The $100 million that we’re celebrating today is $200 million of economic activity for farms across Massachusetts,” he said.

HIP continues to grow despite changes to food assistance programs at the federal level. During the brief federal shutdown of SNAP in fall 2025, Massachusetts residents could still access their HIP credits. Most recently, 23 states adopted federal restrictions on SNAP benefits to limit purchases of candy, soda or energy drinks. The change to food aid eligibility is part of the “Make American Healthy Again” campaign.

Massachusetts, however, is focusing on expanding access to healthy foods instead of restricting purchases. The state will soon open a third round of applications for farms to join the HIP program. In nine years, applications have opened twice, in 2020 and 2022.

“When programs are successful in Massachusetts, we don’t run away from them like has been happening at the federal level,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kiame Mahaniah said.

Kortebein regularly speaks to leaders in a dozen other states who want to bring a HIP model to their communities. There are 25 other states with dollar-matching systems that return every dollar spent on locally grown foods to the SNAP card, but none of them offer independent allowances like Massachusetts.

“They are jealous of what we have here,” she said. “They are envious of the collaboration and coordination that it has required in Massachusetts to make this program happen, and they want to see this kind of thing for their communities.”