Two-hundred-and-fifty-three farm and nutrition groups are urging the Trump administration to expand nutrition incentives under the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, a move they say fits in the Make America Healthy Again agenda.

In a letter, the groups called GusNIP’s current funding level of roughly $50 million each year “a down payment but not full-fledged investment in improving the health of low income Americans.” They also said scaling up the program would help U.S. fruit and vegetable growers struggling to keep up with foreign competition.

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"Current federal spending on nutrition incentives is simply inadequate to allow every supplemental nutrition assistance recipient or farmer to participate in a nutrition incentive program,” the letter said. "We urge the MAHA Commission to begin the process of scaling GusNIP to achieve population-level impact.”


National groups on the letter include the National Grocers Association, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the North American Blueberry Council and the International Fresh Produce Association.

GusNIP includes three grant programs: the Nutrition Incentive Program, the Produce Prescription Program and the National Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation, and Information Centers program.

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