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We know that far too many Americans struggle to follow a healthy diet and eat the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables. As a result, poor nutrition is a leading cause of illness in the U.S., and cardiometabolic diseases continue to cost our communities almost $50 billion in annual health care costs.

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Many people have to choose between eating healthy and eating enough, which is often attributable to lack of convenient grocery access, sufficient budget for healthy foods, and education on the impact of food choices on our health.

To work toward nutrition security for all Americans, The Food Trust calls for the following policy areas to be prioritized at the federal, state and local level. These will not only improve dietary health for individuals, but also create important revenue opportunities for farmers and other small businesses.

OUR POLICY PRIORITIES

Access

Federal

  • Provide ongoing support for and expansion of the Healthy Food Financing Initiatives (HFFI) through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Department of the Treasury, which provide grants and loans to projects that increase access to healthy food, including grocery stores, corner stores, farmers markets, food hubs, co-ops and other food access businesses in urban and rural areas of need, many of which face barriers in accessing traditional resources.
  • eWIC: Allow eWIC benefits to be spent at farmers markets, and reimburse smaller, independent retailers for technology upgrades to accept eWIC.
  • FMNP: Secure ongoing funding to maintain or raise funding level for USDA’s Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP). Provide funding to support organizations serving priority geographies in addressing barriers surrounding participation in and redemption of FMNP vouchers.
  • SNAP Retailer Requirements: Provide training and technical support for store owners and consider store size when setting stocking requirements.

State (PA)

  • Secure annual funding for the commonwealth’s HFFI program to support grocery retail, the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative (PA FFFI).
  • FMNP: Expand farmer applicant eligibility to also include market operators selling on behalf of an eligible farmer or producers from nearby states. Consider alternative partnerships to create new produce access points to help alleviate boundaries around FMNP redemption. 
  • Establish and fund a state Local Food Purchasing Incentive (LFPI) program in Pennsylvania to provide School Food Authorities with additional funds to partially or completely offset the cost of purchasing local foods and serving them in Child Nutrition Programs in K-12 schools, bringing kids and families better access to high-quality, nutritious foods while also strengthening local economies.

Local (Philadelphia)

  • Provide funding to support and sustain farmers markets (operations and administration) and nutrition incentives.

Affordability

Federal 

  • Maintain and expand the USDA Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP), removing the match requirement and creating more opportunities for wider-reaching SNAP incentives and produce prescription programs to provide coupons for fruits and vegetables.
  • Increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding and reduce barriers to SNAP enrollment by streamlining the application process and bolstering SNAP administrative capacity and customer service.

State (PA)

  • Invest $2 million annually in the Food Bucks program, which allows SNAP recipients to stretch their benefits and receive nutrition incentives when they purchase fruits and vegetables.

Education

Federal

  • Double SNAP-Ed funding to support comprehensive, community-based programs that complement all federal food and nutrition grants. Simplify the restrictive income-targeting criteria for community sites, settings and social marketing campaigns to allow SNAP-Ed interventions in geographies with high (but not majority) proportions of income-eligible residents. Allow SNAP-Ed to provide information about changes in and benefits of SNAP. 

State

  • Provide funding for the Pennsylvania Farm to School Network, a multi-sector collaborative that supports communities in implementing farm to school activities which connect children to local agriculture using three core strategies:  1) Procurement; 2) School Gardens and; 3) Hands-on Learning. 

Policies in Action

Access

Sprankle’s Neighborhood Market, Saxonburg, PA

When Saxonburg, a small town in Butler County, PA, lost its only grocery store in 2018, residents were left with few fresh food options. Doug Sprankle of Sprankle’s Neighborhood Market wanted to fill this grocery gap. With support from the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative, the Sprankle family purchased the vacant building and reopened the store in 2020. Now, citizens of Saxonburg no longer have to drive 8 miles to purchase healthy, affordable food at a grocery store. Instead, 5,500 local shoppers choose Sprankle’s per week and 60 local residents are employed at the business.

Education

Heart Smarts & Health Screenings at Junior Supermarket

Junior Supermarket is one of many locations where The Food Trust offers Heart Smarts, a 9-week nutrition education series covering topics relevant to the corner store environment: choosing more nutritious options, reducing sodium and sugar, and stretching food dollars. Junior Supermarket also hosts free health screenings provided by the Camden County Department of Health and participates in the Food Bucks nutrition incentive program.

Affordability

Food Bucks

Funded through GusNIP, the Food Bucks program makes fresh fruits and vegetables more affordable for families using SNAP while also increasing revenue for farmers and fresh food retailers. Last year, Pennsylvania and New Jersey families took home half a million dollars in additional fresh produce, leading to improved dietary health. In the words of one farmers market shopper: “The reason I have enough money for quality food is because of EBT and Food Bucks. Because of this program I can shop at the farmers market and support the vendors, try new foods and always have enough to eat.”

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