Steele-Adjognon Marie, Weatherspoon Dave
Agriculitural, Food and Resource Economics Department, Michigan State University, 466 W Circle Drive, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2017 Dec 12;17(1):946. doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4942-z.
To encourage the consumption of more fresh fruits and vegetables, the 2014 United Sates Farm Bill allocated funds to the Double Up Food Bucks Program. This program provided Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program beneficiaries who spent $10 on fresh fruits and vegetables, in one transaction, with a $10 gift card exclusively for Michigan grown fresh fruits and vegetables. This study analyzes how fruit and vegetable expenditures, expenditure shares, variety and purchase decisions were affected by the initiation and conclusion, as well as any persistent effects of the program.
Changes in fruit and vegetable purchase behaviors due to Double Up Food Bucks in a supermarket serving a low-income, predominantly Hispanic community in Detroit, Michigan were evaluated using a difference in difference fixed effects estimation strategy.
We find that the Double Up Food Bucks program increased vegetable expenditures, fruit and vegetable expenditure shares, and variety of fruits and vegetables purchased but the effects were modest and not sustainable without the financial incentive. Fruit expenditures and the fruit and vegetable purchase decision were unaffected by the program.
This study provides valuable insight on how a nutrition program influences a low-income, urban, Hispanic community's fruit and vegetable purchase behavior. Policy recommendations include either removing or lowering the purchase hurdle for incentive eligibility and dropping the Michigan grown requirement to better align with the customers' preferences for fresh fruits and vegetables.
为鼓励人们更多地食用新鲜水果和蔬菜，2014年美国农业法案向“双倍食品券计划”拨款。该计划为使用补充营养援助计划的受益者提供福利，他们在一次交易中花费10美元购买新鲜水果和蔬菜，即可获得一张价值10美元的礼品卡，该礼品卡专门用于购买密歇根州种植的新鲜水果和蔬菜。本研究分析了该计划的启动、结束以及任何持续性影响对水果和蔬菜支出、支出份额、品种和购买决策的影响。
采用双重差分固定效应估计策略，评估了密歇根州底特律一个以低收入、西班牙裔为主的社区的超市中，“双倍食品券计划”对水果和蔬菜购买行为的影响。
我们发现，“双倍食品券计划”增加了蔬菜支出、水果和蔬菜支出份额以及购买的水果和蔬菜品种，但如果没有经济激励，这些影响是适度的且不可持续。水果支出以及水果和蔬菜购买决策不受该计划影响。
本研究为一项营养计划如何影响低收入城市西班牙裔社区的水果和蔬菜购买行为提供了有价值的见解。政策建议包括要么取消或降低激励资格的购买门槛，要么取消密歇根州种植的要求，以更好地符合消费者对新鲜水果和蔬菜的偏好。
