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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Thursday, March 06, 2025
Some groups and state agriculture leaders are beginning to rethink food as medicine programs to better connect local agricultural systems with nutrition.
Preventable diseases resulting from dietary choices serve as a wake-up call to make policy changes and integrate a greater level of clinician and primary care education on the role of nutrition and "food is medicine" interventions, according to a new bipartisan report on improving health care through nutrition.
Bipartisan momentum is building to scale up and tweak the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) and enhance the offering of the healthy incentive pilots funded at $20 million in the 2008 farm bill.
Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare systems in Houston and Salt Lake City will provide veterans with fresh fruit and vegetables as well as nutrition coaching to test whether produce prescriptions can improve the health of people with diet-related health conditions.
Data from pilot projects is already pouring in on the positive impact on health with food prescriptions and medically tailored meals. Now groups are gearing up to make the case for continued funds within the farm bill as well as tapping into the larger pool of health care dollars to change the trajectory of the nation’s declining health and increase the scale of food-as-medicine projects.
The White House has launched an effort to get Medicare and Medicaid, and eventually private health plans, to provide medically tailored meals to all Americans, a goal that produce growers hope will ultimately expand consumption of fruits and vegetables.
