This report presents findings from the evaluation of the first Healthy Fluid Milk Incentives project. The project tested take-up of incentives delivered through coupons issued to SNAP participants when they purchased "qualifying fluid milk" with their SNAP benefits at four pilot stores in west Texas.
The final evaluation report presents findings on the impacts of HIP on fruit and vegetable consumption and spending, the processes involved in implementation and operating HIP, impacts on stakeholders, and the costs associated with the pilot.
This report is meant to be the first systematic study of the roles different organizations play in designing and implementing SNAP based incentive programs, how they choose markets for their programs, and how they evaluate success of their programs.
The Food, Nutrition and Conservation Act of 2008 (also known as the Farm Bill) authorized funds to pilot test and rigorously evaluate the impact of financial incentives at the point-of-sale for the purchase of fruits, vegetables or other healthful foods on the diet quality of participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program FNS refers to this effort as the Healthy Incentives Pilot or HIP. HIP operated for 14 months in Hampden County, MA.
This report fulfills the request from Congress in the House Appropriations Committee Report (HR 107-116), which accompanied the Agriculture Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2002.