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Congress moves to expand SNAP dairy incentive program

Michael Dykes

Michael Dykes, president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association, contributes this column bimonthly for Cheese Market News®.

The next time Miranda Red Cloud picks up a gallon of skim or 1% milk for $3.99 at her local Buche Foods grocery store in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, she’ll receive $3.99 back to spend on any other SNAP-eligible item in the store. This dollar-for-dollar match is an incentive designed to encourage participants of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to purchase healthy dairy options and expand their purchasing power when they purchase dairy products. While nutrition incentive programs like this have long been utilized to encourage healthier eating, they’ve not yet included the full suite of nutritious dairy products.

As Congress puts together the next farm bill, there is an opportunity to enhance this program so it can be further expanded to more SNAP participants.

The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) led the charge for creating the Healthy Fluid Milk Incentive (HFMI) Projects in the 2018 Farm Bill. Since then, Congress has appropriated $9 million to bring the program to six states and more than 150 stores, including many on federal Indian Reservations, urban and rural areas, and numerous locations in economically distressed communities. The program has tremendous momentum behind it, having just expanded to stores across Alabama, Georgia and South Dakota and onto Pine Ridge Reservation where it is already benefiting SNAP participants like Miranda Red Cloud and her family. With an additional $4 million being awarded in September, IDFA expects the number of SNAP participants to have the benefits of this program to double or triple over the course of the next year as the program is expanded to more stores in more states.

This expansion is great news for those working to improve access to affordable, nutritious dairy products for vulnerable Americans, but it’s not enough. To meaningfully improve food security, expand purchasing power and address underconsumption of dairy products, federal policymakers must incentivize SNAP purchases of all nutritious dairy products. The current program, HFMI, is limited to skim and 1% milk, while most SNAP participants prefer whole and 2% milk, highly nutritious staples in the diets of the food insecure. Cheese and yogurt also offer milk’s 13 essential nutrients in different forms that SNAP participants prefer.

Enter Congressional dairy champions.

U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and U.S. Reps. Jim Costa, D-Calif., and Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., are leading a bipartisan, bicameral effort to introduce the new Dairy Nutrition Incentive Program Act of 2023 (S. 1474/H.R. 5099), a bill that would expand HFMI to include a greater variety of milkfat options in milk, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese and other nutritious dairy products. The bill would also provide $10 million in mandatory funding per year, giving the program greater certainty, more testing of incentives and expanded outreach strategies that work for SNAP participants. If you support this initiative, please contact your U.S. representatives and senators as soon as possible.

IDFA is requesting that this bill become part of the next farm bill. With the 2018 Farm Bill set to expire at the end of September, Congress may pass a short-term “extension” while working to balance competing interests for farm, conservation and nutrition programs with those who want to cut spending in those areas. SNAP, in particular, is in the crosshairs for funding cuts or food purchase restrictions, so expressing your support for dairy nutrition incentives is all the more important. While new funding for nutrition programs is always tight, money spent on dairy nutrition incentives will benefit many with access to more affordable dairy nutrition.

Dairy products like milk, cheese and yogurt offer the best nutritional bang for the taxpayer’s buck. Dairy offers a unique package of 13 essential nutrients, including high-quality protein, calcium, vitamin D and potassium, and health benefits including better bone health and lower risk for Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Yet dairy products are under-consumed by 90% of Americans, according to the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Investing $10 million each year to increase consumption of healthy dairy products will reduce nutrition-related diseases that cost Americans hundreds of billions in health care every year.

As we head into September, consider joining IDFA in advocating for the Dairy Nutrition Incentive Program Act of 2023. This campaign (www.idfa.org/dairyincentives) will allow you to send an email to your members of Congress encouraging them to co-sponsor the legislation. With your urging, Congress will prioritize this important program and make sure it is included in the next farm bill.

CMN

The views expressed by CMN’s guest columnists are their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of Cheese Market News®.

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