Posts for Category: SNAP

The Healthy Fluid Milk Incentive Project titled “Add Milk!” provides SNAP participants with a 50% discount on nutrient-dense, non-fat and low-fat (1%) milk. ATKINS, Ark., May 28, 2025—A nutrition incentive program that helps low-income families purchase nutritious milk is expanding to 21 grocery stores across Arkansas. Houchens Food Group, throughout its grocery store locations, will […]

Washington, April 7, 2025 – IDFA sent a letter to leaders in the Ohio Legislature urging them to oppose SB161, a bill that would unfairly restrict SNAP benefits for purchasing America-grown, American-produced milk, dairy and dairy products – harming both Ohio families and the state’s dairy industry.

A new dairy incentive program aimed at encouraging healthy behavior among people participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is gaining bipartisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. The Dairy Nutrition Incentive Program Act of 2025 seeks to address that 90% of Americans do not consume enough milk and other nutritious dairy products according to federal dietary guidelines. The bipartisan legislation, introduced by 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.), would provide SNAP participants with a dollar-for-dollar match for the purchase of milk, cheese, yogurt and cultured dairy products.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2024—The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently awarded a grant to Auburn University’s Hunger Solutions Institute (HSI) to significantly expand the Healthy Fluid Milk Incentives Projects (HFMI) to more than 1,150 retail stores in 32 states since the program began in 2020. HFMI pilot projects provide SNAP beneficiaries with a dollar-for-dollar match when […]

U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), Ranking Member on the Senate Agriculture Committee, released a Farm Bill framework reflecting the priorities of Senate Republicans. The Senate Republicans’ framework includes several IDFA priorities, namely the outline for a SNAP Dairy Nutrition Incentives Program, or DNIP, which expands on the SNAP Healthy Fluid Milk Incentives (HFMI) program to include all varieties of milk, as well as cheese and yogurt and cultured products.

The U.S. House Agriculture Committee today approved its version of a 2024 Farm Bill. Michael Dykes, D.V.M., president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), released the following statement on the bill. “IDFA was pleased to see the House Agriculture Committee’s 2024 Farm Bill expand the SNAP Healthy Fluid Milk Incentive (HFMI) to include the full suite of nutritious milk options. Congress created the SNAP HFMI pilot program in the 2018 Farm Bill to test the most effective ways of incentivizing SNAP participants purchase of healthy fluid milk.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released grant-approval to significantly expand the Healthy Fluid Milk Incentives Projects (HFMI)—a program established in the 2018 Farm Bill and one of the Department’s key nutrition incentive programs for participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). HFMI pilot projects currently operate in more than 150 retail outlets in six states, providing SNAP beneficiaries with a dollar-for-dollar match when they purchase healthy fluid milk options. Today’s USDA award announcement utilizes $4 million in FY2023 congressional appropriations to Auburn University’s Hunger Solutions Institute (HSI) to bring the program to an additional 13 states and 575 retail outlets, including locations in rural communities, counties with persistently high poverty rates, low-income and low access census tracts, and Tribal Nations and surrounding tribal communities.

A nutrition incentive program that helps low-income families purchase healthy fluid milk products is expanding across Alabama. The Add Milk! program is being launched by the Auburn University’s College of Human Sciences Hunger Solutions Institute (HSI) and select retailers to provide a dollar-for-dollar match for participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, when they purchase low-fat or non-fat milk.

In a strong show of support for healthy nutrition incentive programs, today the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a significant expansion of the Healthy Fluid Milk Incentives Projects (HFMIP), a pilot program that provides a dollar-for-dollar match to participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) when they purchase healthy fluid milk options at qualifying food retail outlets. USDA awarded $3 million in new funding to Auburn University’s Hunger Solutions Institute (HSI) to bring the program to SNAP beneficiaries in an additional four states and 116 retail outlets, including those on federal Indian Reservations, urban and rural areas and numerous locations in economically distressed communities.

The International Dairy Foods Association is pleased to see the important changes announced today by USDA to the Thrifty Food Plan, which will increase the average SNAP benefit by $36.24 per person, per month, or $1.19 per day, according to USDA. In their analysis of the program, USDA found that 88% of SNAP participants face challenges in accessing a healthy diet and 61% of SNAP participants reported cost as a main barrier.