The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded Mid-America Regional Council Community Services Corporation a $10.07 million Project Grant on September 16, 2025, under the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (CFDA 10.331) to expand a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) incentive initiative across Kansas and Missouri through September 15, 2028. The program provides point-of-purchase financial incentives to low-income SNAP recipients to increase their purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers markets, grocery stores, and direct-to-consumer outlets. Building on a decade of implementation that distributed $7.8 million in incentives across 163 locations since 2016, this project expands the program to new rural and urban communities while introducing operational innovations to enhance program effectiveness and accessibility.
The project anticipates short-term outcomes including awareness-building for over 350,000 individuals, stimulation of 1.4 million produce purchases totaling $13.4 million in combined SNAP and incentive sales, and medium-to-long-term improvements in household food security and nutrition outcomes in 126 communities. Two sub-awardees support program implementation and evaluation: Kansas State University (University Pre-Awards Services) will coordinate nutrition incentive delivery at participating farm direct locations, and the University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute will conduct a substudy assessing the health impacts of the Double Up Food Bucks healthy food incentive component.