Tag: WIC

As IFPA launches a major campaign to preserve funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in the 2023 (whoops—2024) farm bill, it could be helpful to look back and see what is going on with it now.

The International Fresh Produce Association launched its largest-ever ad campaign in support of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to coincide with today’s WIC National Day of Action.

The fresh fruit and vegetable industry contends that these WIC cuts would be bad not only for American public health but for the industry itself.

Recent research by the USDA shows more than 6 million of those who are eligible for WIC are missing out on its proven health benefits.

As part of its ongoing nutrition advocacy work and in response to a bill that would strip fruit and vegetable Cash Value Benefits from the Special Supplementary Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, more than 70 allied associations and members of the International Fresh Produce Association joined with the organization in a sign-on letter opposing these cuts.

The Senate subcommittee’s legislation fully funds WIC, including the fruit and vegetable benefit amount at the current levels consistent with the National Academy of Science’s recommendations.  

Are you on the wagon? This has nothing to do with your alcohol consumption, which is none of my business. It refers to government benefits—specifically programs that subsidize food purchases for the poor.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through a cooperative agreement with USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), has awarded $16 million in subgrants funding from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to 36 projects aimed at testing innovative outreach strategies to increase participation and equity in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC.

The International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) is disappointed by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture’s passage of a funding bill that will strip key nutrition benefits from the WIC program and also have consequences for growers across the country.

As the International Fresh Produce Association continues its nutrition policy and advocacy to create more opportunities for fresh fruits and vegetables across federal feeding and nutrition programs, it recently responded to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Food and Drug Administration on proposed revisions to the USDA Food and Nutrition Service Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) food packages as well as the FDA’s ongoing efforts to define “healthy” for nutrient content claims.