More than 600 Leading Organizations Urge Congress to Strengthen and Expand Successful Nutrition Incentives, Produce Prescriptions in the Upcoming Farm Bill

Request Comes as Nutrition Incentives Show Positive Health and Economic Impacts

13 July 2023 | WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, more than 600 farm, food, and health leaders across 47 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are urging key Congressional leaders to strengthen and expand the successful Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) in the upcoming Farm Bill so it can help more families, farmers, and food businesses.

“In order to benefit more local economies and help more families improve dietary quality, GusNIP needs to evolve and grow so it can reach its full potential,” wrote the groups. “With robust funding and improvements to support the partners who deliver this program, GusNIP can expand its reach to help even more American farmers, grocers, and families experiencing poverty nationwide.”

Since its inception as a pilot program in 2008, GusNIP has worked as an effective public-private partnership that has expanded healthy food choices and sparked economic opportunity. The program supports nutrition incentive projects at the state level, which enable families who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to use their benefits to buy more fruits and vegetables at participating farmers markets and grocery stores. GusNIP also supports produce prescriptions that allow healthcare providers to give their patients vouchers to buy fresh produce so they can add more healthy food to their diet.

The economic impact of GusNIP has been considerable, generating approximately $85 million in 2022, a 107% increase from the previous year. As the only federal program with dedicated resources for SNAP families to access fruits and vegetables, additional investment in GusNIP could bolster local economies, increase revenue for farmers and food businesses, and help more families eat healthier. A recent analysis shows that people who utilize nutrition incentives improve their nutrition security and eat more fruit and vegetables compared to the average American.

In the letter to U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AZ), and U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “G.T.” Thompson (PA-15) and Ranking Member David Scott (GA-13), the organizations proposed several improvements to GusNIP for the upcoming Farm Bill, including:

• A significant investment in GusNIP to equip more low-income individuals with the purchase power to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables.
• The reduction or elimination of the non-government match requirement for pilot-sized grants.
• Creation of a new USDA program to scale incentives statewide and prioritize grants for fruit and vegetable incentive projects in diverse retail settings.
• Improvements to maintain produce prescriptions as a component of the program and expedite their utilization in clinical and care management workflows.

The letter was signed by 637 national and local farm groups, nutrition advocates, grocers, farmers markets, and public health leaders, including the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, American Heart Association, Bread for the World, Center for Science in The Public Interest, Council for a Strong America, Fair Food Network, Farmers Market Coalition, International Fresh Produce Association, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, National Grocers Association, National Produce Prescription Collaborative, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Save the Children, Share Our Strength, Union of Concerned Scientists, Wholesome Wave, and more.

The full text of the letter is below. A PDF of the letter, which includes the full list of signatories, is available here.

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Dear Chairwoman Stabenow, Chairman Thompson, Ranking Member Boozman and Ranking Member Scott,

We write today to show our strong support for the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) and request that you consider strengthening and expanding the program in the upcoming Farm Bill. GusNIP’s nutrition incentive and produce prescription programs help people with low incomes purchase more fruits and vegetables while supporting farmers and contributing to a broader economic impact.

Since its first iteration as the Healthy Incentives Pilot in 2008, GusNIP has proven to successfully expand access to and increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables.  In fact, people who use nutrition incentives eat more fruits and vegetables than the average American[1] and improve their overall nutrition security[2]. Studies of produce prescription programs found consistent improvement of diet-related health issues including diabetes and glucose control[3] and several studies have identified impacts matching or even surpassing the effects of prescription drug therapies for cardiometabolic health.[4]

In addition to nutrition benefits, GusNIP generates significant returns to food producers and local economies. Findings show that this economic impact continues to grow over time. In 2022, incentive spending at local food retailers generated an economic impact of approximately $85M – a 107% increase from 2021.[5] With increased investment, we can build on this established momentum.

GusNIP represents the only federal program with dedicated resources for SNAP families to access fruits and vegetables. In order to benefit more local economies and help more families improve dietary quality, GusNIP needs to evolve and grow so it can reach its full potential. We applaud the historic bipartisan support that allowed GusNIP to grow from a pilot program to a mandatory baseline funded program in the Farm Bill over the course of several years. As you write the upcoming Farm Bill, we urge you to continue this bipartisan effort and respectfully request the following changes to ensure the continued success of GusNIP:

• Invest in GusNIP in a way that can meaningfully equip more people with low incomes with purchase power to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables, while also growing revenue for farmers and food businesses.
• Reduce or eliminate the non-government match requirement, especially for pilot-sized grants.
• Create a new USDA grant tier/cooperative agreement to scale incentives statewide and prioritize grants for fruit and vegetable incentive projects that work in a variety of retail settings, including independent retailers and farmers markets.
• Maintain produce prescriptions (PRx) as a component of the program while implementing a separate grant proposal review panel, as well as a new two-tiered grant structure to expedite utilization of PRx in standard clinical and care management workflows through infrastructure and study design.
• Additional national consensus positions for GusNIP improvements available at: fruitvegincentives.org/farmbill

More than 40 million Americans participate in SNAP and still struggle to provide adequate nutritious food to feed their families. GusNIP’s success is contingent on SNAP, and every SNAP dollar spent on fruits and vegetables will have an outsized economic and health benefit when paired with GusNIP. Any additional resources that Congress provides for GusNIP must be additive to a strong SNAP program and we respectfully oppose any cuts to SNAP.

As we work together to address issues of hunger, nutrition, and the impacts of diet-related diseases, GusNIP is a proven and viable solution. With robust funding and improvements to support the partners who deliver this program, GusNIP can expand its reach to help even more American farmers, grocers, and families experiencing poverty nationwide.

[1] Center for Nutrition and Health Impact. Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation, and Information Center (GusNIP NTAE): Impact Finding. Available at https://www.nutritionincentivehub.org/media/2uwlf3ch/gusnip-y3-impact-findings-report.pdf

[2] Center for Nutrition and Health Impact. Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation, and Information Center (GusNIP NTAE): Impact Finding. Available at https://www.nutritionincentivehub.org/media/2uwlf3ch/gusnip-y3-impact-findings-report.pdf

[3] Veldheer S, Scartozzi C, Knehans A, et al. A Systematic Scoping Review of How Healthcare Organizations Are Facilitating Access to Fruits and Vegetables in Their Patient Populations. J Nutr 2020;150:2859-73.

[4] Haslam A, Gill J, Taniguchi T, Love C, Jernigan VB. The effect of food prescription programs on chronic disease management in primarily low-income populations: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutr Health. 2022 Feb 2:2601060211070718. doi: 10.1177/02601060211070718. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35108144. 10. Veldheer S, Scartozzi C, Bordner CR, Opara C, Williams B, Weaver L, Rodriguez D, Berg A, Sciamanna C. Impact of a Prescription Produce Program on Diabetes and Cardiovascular Risk Outcomes. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2021 Dec;53(12):1008-1017. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2021.07.005. Epub 2021 Aug 20. PMID: 34426064. 11. Veldheer S, Scartozzi C, Knehans A, et al. A Systematic Scoping Review of How Healthcare Organizations Are Facilitating Access to Fruits and Vegetables in Their Patient Populations. J Nutr 2020;150:2859-73. 12. Bhat S, Coyle DH, Trieu K, et al. Healthy Food Prescription Programs and their Impact on Dietary Behavior and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Advances in Nutrition 2021.

[5] Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation, and Information Center (GusNIP NTAE). (2022). Year 3 Impact Findings. Available at https://www.nutritionincentivehub.org/media/2uwlf3ch/gusnip-y3-impact-findings-report.pdf

Contact: 

Andi Nank, anank@fairfoodnetwork.org, 734. 213.3999 x221