Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** cultivating health with veggie…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** cultivating health with veggie scripts & gardening is a nutrition incentive program that will increase the purchase and consumption of fruits and vegetables, lower food insecurity, and reduce healthcare use and costs by low-income community members who are at risk of developing or have developed a diet-related disease in a mostly latino, rural community in do & ntilde; a ANA county, new mexico. Leveraging local food system assets, the project will address cost, transportation, and education barriers to fruit and vegetable consumption in a culturally grounded program. The project will distribute $36,900 in produce prescriptions yearly amongst 50 households and provide participants with traditions-based nutrition, cooking, and gardening education as well as on-site access to a mobile snap retailer with local produce and food-bearing plants. Participants will also receive one-on-one follow-up visits with promotoras (community health workers) to identify and address barriers to behavior change. This project offers an opportunity to rigorously evaluate an innovative, community-based nutrition incentive program that integrates gardening and traditional mexican foodways, assessing produce consumption with the most objective and valid instrument in the field: the veggie meter, a non-invasive measurement of biomarkers for fruit and vegetable intake.