The Make America Healthy Again Commission is one of President Donald Trump’s focus efforts. However, there has been a disconnect between the stated goals of the commission and its actions. But a focus on fresh produce could help.
On July 15, the International Fresh Produce Association issued a letter containing 10 recommendations that the association says offer proven strategies to reduce diet-related disease and improve public health.
The 10 recommendations are:
- Make produce prescriptions a covered benefit within the health system
- Improve transparency in food labeling, especially as it relates to fruits and vegetables
- Expand financial incentives for fruit and vegetable purchases
- Expand the fresh fruit and vegetable program (FFVP)
- Modernize USDA purchasing programs to expand fresh produce purchases
- Increase fruit and vegetable access for SNAP recipients
- Enhance data collection for federal nutrition programs
- Support access to safe crop protection tools
- Invest in specialty crop research and innovation
- Incentivize regenerative agriculture practices
“For too long, our nation has fallen short of consuming the recommended daily amounts of fruits and vegetables, resulting in serious public health consequences,” says IFPA CEO Cathy Burns, who called on the MAHA Commission for a bold, coordinated strategy to increase consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Robert Kennedy Jr., the MAHA Commission chair and Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, says one of the commission’s and HHS’ top priorities is to end chronic disease, highlighting diet-related illness diabetes. According to the CDC, roughly half of Americans have diabetes or prediabetes.
However, recent MAHA Commission action has included initiatives such as removing artificial food dyes from processed foods.
“If you look at what the MAHA leadership has prioritized to date, while they reference whole foods, there hasn’t been a true championing of fresh fruits and vegetables,” says Mollie Van Lieu, IFPA’s vice president of nutrition and health.
“If we’re going to address those underlying prevalent conditions, we’re going to need to do more than take artificial food dyes out of food.”
Nutrition-focused recommendations
The food-as-medicine mentality is a common one among Americans, and fresh produce can be just what the doctor ordered. If the doctor can order it, that is.
IFPA’s first recommendation to the MAHA Commission is to make “produce prescriptions” more widespread in the U.S. healthcare system.
“There are a handful of states that have what are called Medicaid 1115 waivers, where they can incorporate food as medicine strategies, including produce prescriptions,” Van Lieu explains. She adds that there has been a lot of success in states that have offered produce prescription programs.
“Our ask in general is that the federal government and HHS make produce prescriptions a standard practice of clinical care,” she says. “The onus wouldn’t be solely on the states to do this if that happens.”
Another of IFPA’s asks is to improve labeling related to fruit and vegetable content. Pointing to the recent front-of-package nutritional label summary proposed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Van Lieu says IFPA would like to see that and more.
“We would like to see that taken one step forward to disclosure of meaningful amounts of fruits and vegetables,” she says. “One only needs to go through the grocery store to find a ton of products that are implying significant inclusion of fruits and vegetables, either in their name, their description or the imaging.”
Those implications are often not accurate, particularly when snack foods are involved, she says. IFPA wants labeling that would list, “in normal household measurements,” how much fruit and/or vegetables are in products making such claims.
“We want to ensure transparency with consumers and that is something the MAHA Commission has said they want — radical transparency — and we think this [recommendation] fits in with that nicely,” she says.
SNAP, Medicaid, and the OBBB
Most of the nutritional recommendations focused on nutrition and federal levers of food and nutritional support. These included the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, and the National School Lunch Program. IFPA called these proven programs that show “that when access improves, consumption increases.”
However, these programs and Medicaid saw steep cuts with the passage of H.R.1 — the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Van Lieu says it is hard to say what the implications of Medicaid cuts might be for the produce industry at this point. But for SNAP, she says, “I think it’s logical to think that if people have fewer dollars to spend on food, there’s a real chance that fresh produce may be impacted.”
Nonetheless, she says IFPA feels its SNAP- and Medicaid-related recommendations are workable and pragmatic. Still, the association is watching the issue of school meal access in the wake of H.R.1’s passage.
“One of the main implications that we are watching is — because individuals are expected to lose their eligibility for the Medicaid or SNAP programs — what happens in the state structure for how meals are determined.”
Van Lieu explains that in the past decade, eligibility for the school lunch program became tied to SNAP or Medicaid participation.
“If a family qualifies for snap or Medicaid, there’s automatic eligibility for school meals,” she says of many states. “So, there is a concern there about losing access to school meals.”
Grower-focused recommendations
The IFPA recommendations also include produce grower-focused issues.
“To deliver on our shared goal of transforming the American diet, any policy framework must ensure that resources, incentives and regulations are appropriately aligned with the dynamic structure of fresh produce production,” the letter reads.
The recommendations call for increased funding for things like crop protection tools and research funding for specialty crop growers. The OBBB increased funding to programs like this and more, but there’s more that needs to be done according to Sara Neagu Reed, IFPA’s director of production and environmental policy.
“It is vital that the administration continue to utilize the funds appropriated by Congress for these purposes to support work happening at USDA-ARS, and the necessary staffing at EPA-OPP,” she says. “Unfortunately, we’ve had months of uncertainty regarding the continuation of this work both through USDA-NIFA and ARS. Additionally, NIFA has yet to release a Request for Proposals for programs that have been appropriated funds. These funds will be lost if not allocated before the end of the fiscal year (Sept. 30).”
In the spirit of continued growth into the future, the last IFPA recommendation deals with regenerative agriculture practices.
Neagu Reed says this recommendation was included to reflect the fresh produce industry’s focus on regenerative ag, something IFPA defines as: “A holistic farming approach that aims to restore and enhance the natural resources of agro-ecosystems while supporting the long-term health and viability of agricultural businesses and communities. The foundation of this farming system is the integrated management of soil health, biodiversity, water resources, human health and climate.”
Some of IFPA’s recommendations for how the federal government could incentivize regenerative ag practices in specialty crop growers include:
- Voluntary, incentive-based support that recognizes the diversity of needs that come with the wide variety of specialty crops
- Direct financial incentives, such as a federal cost-share system or grant programs, that help offset the costs of transitioning to regenerative practices
- Targeted, technical assistance and extension services that involve technical experts who understand the fresh produce industry and the specific crops
- Increased funding for research and data collection on regenerative practices as they impact specialty crops specifically
Neagu Reed notes that there are some current programs that could be expanded to support regenerative practices, such as the USDA’s Advancing Markets for Producers (previously called Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities) and NRCS conservation programs.
“These already offer frameworks and funding for soil health, water efficiency and conservation practices,” says Neagu Reed of the NRCS programs. “However, these programs often aren’t tailored enough to the diverse, high-value crops in fresh produce.”
To make those programs more specialty crop-friendly, she says they need to take into account the crop rotation, scale and intensity of specialty crop operations, as well as ensuring program staff are trained in specialty crop systems.
“At the core of the MAHA Commission’s work is the understanding that healthy people need healthy food — and that starts with healthy farms,” Neagu Reed says. “Fresh produce is the most nutrient-dense category in the American diet, but without policies that support the viability and sustainability of growing it, we risk falling short of our national nutrition and health goals.”
IFPA launches new campaign along with recommendations
A day after it issued its recommendations letter, IFPA launched the complementary “Fresh Produce for a Healthier America” campaign. According to the association, the D.C.-area digital campaign is “spotlighting fruits and vegetables as nature’s original prescription for better health, lower healthcare costs and longer lives.”
“For too long, fruits and vegetables have been the quiet, essential workhorses of public health,” says IFPA CEO Cathy Burns. “This campaign reminds us of a truth we’ve always known: Nutrition is the foundation of prevention, and produce is an undeniable cornerstone to any wellness plan.”
She continues, saying of the campaign, “This is a call to action to invest in the farmers, programs and policies that make fresh produce accessible and affordable for every American — because you can’t make America healthy again without fruits and vegetables.”
