The Farm Bill We Want To See

The impact of fruit and vegetable incentives, including SNAP incentives and produce prescriptions, in the Farm Bill is far reaching for farmers, families, and local economies. Explore our priorities in the upcoming bill.

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A young family shopping at a grocery store with a young girl selecting a red pepper from the produce shelf.

A Win For Families, Farmers, Local Economies

For millions of Americans, healthy food is out of reach. Fortunately, fruit and vegetable incentives are changing that. Incentive programs, like Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP formerly FINI) supported SNAP incentives and produce prescriptions projects, increase fruit and vegetable purchases and consumption among Americans with low income. They also support sales for farmers and keep dollars in local economies. The total reach of FINI/GusNIP from 2015-2021:

States

have FINI/GusNIP projects

$ Million

In fresh produce for American families

Growing Consumption

Research shows that participants in nutrition incentive programs eat more fruits and vegetables than the average American, growing consumption over time.

About Nutrition Incentives

GUSNIP

The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP formerly FINI) was established in the 2014 Farm Bill with strong bipartisan support. GusNIP provides funding opportunities for incentives projects to increase purchases of fruits and vegetables by households with low income.

FRUIT AND VEGETABLE INCENTIVES

SNAP incentives and produce prescriptions bring together parts of the food and healthcare system to improve the health and nutrition of households with low income, expand participation, and collect and aggregate data to identify best practices.

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4 Goals For the Farm Bill

To strengthen and expand GusNIP fruit and vegetable incentives, we recommend the following.

Funding

Match Requirements

GusNIP requires public/private dollars match federal funding. This requirement is a significant barrier in the expansion of projects across the country.

We recommend removing or reducing the match requirement, especially for pilot-sized grants. We suggest allowing in-kind contributions to meet the match requirement for retail establishments, including technology and wages for implementing programs.

Statewide Expansion

To ensure increased dollars go to project participants, rather than overhead costs, we recommend a new tiered grant program/cooperative agreement between USDA Food and Nutrition Service, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and SNAP State Agencies or a non-profit/local government partnership to scale incentives statewide. Additionally, we suggest prioritizing grants for fruit and vegetable incentive projects that work in a variety of retail settings, including independent retailers and farmers markets.

Produce Prescriptions (PRx)

Produce Prescriptions (PRx) have demonstrated to be highly effective at helping patients prevent or treat diet related disease.

We recommend maintaining PRx funding at 10% of GusNIP as an important research and infrastructure component of the program.

USDA should also implement a separate grant proposal review panel, and establish a two-tiered grant structure to expedite utilization of PRx in standard clinical and care management workflows through infrastructure and study design.

Get Involved

Access Resources

Find helpful national and state by state resources to share the importance of nutrition incentives in the upcoming Farm Bill.

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Take Action

Learn about our latest advocacy and share your support.

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EXPLORE THE LATEST NEWS

Read recent news and announcements surrounding GusNIP-funded projects and the upcoming Farm Bill.

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