If it weren't for the vouchers they receive to shop at local farmers markets, Dorothy Badovinac and her daughter Bettie Ardman, both of Farrell, said they would probably be eating fewer fruits and vegetables.

"When you're on a fixed income, anything helps," Mrs. Ardman said. "The vouchers are nice to have. A lot of times we can't afford to buy (fresh produce) because we have to buy other things."

Mrs. Badovinac added: "My daughter and I have no way to grow (fruits and vegetables). We wouldn't eat vegetables in the summer if it weren't for the vouchers."

But the vouchers that help people like Mrs. Badovinac and Mrs. Ardman, may soon disappear.

The Bush administration wants to end the program, which allows low-income elderly people, poor pregnant women and new mothers to buy produce at farmers markets and fruit stands with money vouchers. The produce subsidies for seniors come from state money, said Tom Woerz, planner for Mercer County Area Agency on Aging.

Each state is responsible for budgeting the vouchers. If Pennsylvania doesn't get the federal money it needs to pay for the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, it will have to use state money earmarked for the elderly program for WIC, Woerz said.

The vouchers spend like checks, said Floy Moreira, director of the Shenango Valley Senior Community Center in Hermitage. Qualifying participants receive four $5 vouchers, giving them a total of $20 to spend a year, Mrs. Moreira said. To make a purchase, buyers sign over their vouchers to the farmer, who can take the vouchers to the bank and cash them like regular checks, Mrs. Moreira said.

"We tell them to treat it as money because it spends like money," she added.

The Bush administration has not included any money for the program in its proposed 2003 Agriculture Department budget and has resisted increasing spending to meet demand this year, according to The Associated Press. The program's detractors believe it provides too little help to too few people.

Last year in Mercer County more than 3,000 people age 60 and older received $20 in farmers market vouchers, totaling about $60,000, Mrs. Moreira said. The 2.7 million people in the U.S. who participated in the program last year received an average of $12 worth of fruits and vegetables.

Buyers aren't the only ones who benefit from the program. Some local farmers say they have seen an increase in business since the program opened to seniors.

Joseph Barovich, owner of Joe's Farm Market in Hermitage, said the farmers market program is what keeps him in business. He was ready to give up farming until the program expanded to seniors. He said now he gets more money from the vouchers than he does from cash.

"There are cash customers out there, but not too many ... If people can't get these stamps to pay for my produce, I'll have to go on welfare," he said.

"I would be sitting with a truckload of produce and I had no way to sell it. If it wasn't for the stamps, I'd have to cut my farm in half," he said.

Barovich said he has been able to buy new equipment and expand his farm, thanks to the vouchers. And most of the money he gets from the vouchers goes to pay taxes, he said.

Several states that participated in the program last year --- including Connecticut, Florida and New Jersey -- are not expected to get any money for the portion of the program that benefits seniors, Woerz said.

For now, no one is sure if federal action is going to affect Pennsylvania or Mercer County, Woerz said.

The Pennsylvania Legislature "is going to have to decide pretty soon because that money is a part of the (state) government's budget," Woerz said. "But until the Legislature in Pennsylvania decides what it's going to do, all bets are off."