This study provides current information on adoption of scanning technology among small SNAP-authorized retailers to assess readiness for meeting the Farm Bill requirement, barriers and benefits to adopting scanning technologies, and costs for nonadopting retailers to comply with this requirement.

The Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive grant program provided $100 million to fund and evaluate projects that were intended to increase fruit and vegetable purchases among SNAP participants by providing incentives at the point of purchase. 

The 2014 Farm Bill established a Multi-Agency Taskforce to provide coordination and direction for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) foods administered by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). The Task Force is responsible for evaluating and monitoring USDA commodity programs to ensure that through the distribution of domestic agricultural products, the programs support the U.S. farm sector and contribute to the health and well-being of individuals in the United States. This third annual report to Congress describes the activities of the taskforce in 2017.

This report responds to the requirement of PL 110-246 to assess the effectiveness of state and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals. Direct certification is a process conducted by the states and by local educational agencies to certify eligible children for free meals without the need for household applications. 

Statistical models were designed to estimate national improper payments due to certification error on an annual basis using district-level data. This enables FNS to update its estimates of national improper payment rates for the NSLP and SBP in future years without having to conduct full rounds of primary data collection.

This study — mandated by Section 4022 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 — reviews research on employment and training program components and practices that: (1) assist members of households participating in SNAP to obtain regular employment; and (2) are best integrated with state workforce development systems. 

The second Access, Participation, Eligibility and Certification Study (APEC II) included a follow-on report that provided statistically-derived state-level estimates of school meals erroneous payments. However, while APEC II provided a rough indicator of relative risk for groups of states (e.g., higher than average, about average, lower than average), it was not a state-representative direct measure, and creating actual annual measures of such erroneous payments at the state level using APEC methodology is cost-prohibitive. This report explores alternative approaches to developing measurement-based state-specific estimates that are responsive to year-to-year changes in the actual underlying rate in each state. It also provides cost and burden estimates for the implementation of each of these methods.

Section 4031 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 required a study to determine the feasibility of operating SNAP, or an alternative model of benefit delivery, in the CNMI. This report assesses the CNMI's capacity to administer SNAP in six key SNAP program areas; describes potential barriers to implementing SNAP and modifications that might be needed; and explores which elements of SNAP could be implemented under the existing block grant structure.

This is the 11th in a series of annual reports that examines the administrative accuracy of eligibility determinations and benefit issuance for free or reduced-price meals in the National School Lunch Program.

National completion rates for SNAP QC reviews have generally declined since peak levels in the 1980s, and State-level completion rates vary widely. This study examines the factors contributing to incomplete reviews of cases and describes best practices associated with high SNAP QC completion rates.