USDA Ups Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program

The USDA has announced that it will increase funding for its Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program.

The program gives elementary school students free vegetable or fruit snacks.  The increase in funds for next year should allow the program to reach up to a million more students next year, bringing the total to 4 million students in disadvantaged communities.

It's Nice Seeing Government Solve Problems the Government Itself Has Created.

It’s hard to argue with a program like this.  American children are eating worse and worse, and childhood disorders are on the rise, from obesity to diabetes even to instances of heart disease.  Fruits and vegetables are great things to be feeding these children, and though this program reaches only a small percentage of American school kids, it reaches them at an age where nutrition may matter most, and in communities where access to fruits and vegetables is likely the most limited.

Still, you have to question why our government has to provide children with fruits and vegetables, in a country where the median income is $48,000 per year.  But American agricultural policy, which has long subsidized the growth of corn and soy for use as animal feed and in heavily processed foods, has created a food system in which meat and junk food are cheap and readily available, and fruits and vegetables, which do not receive these government subsidies, are more expensive relative to meat and junk food than they’ve ever been.

So, maybe instead of buying children fruits and vegetables, our government would be better off reallocating its agricultural subsidies so that we no longer encourage production of foods that are unhealthy for us and discourage production of fruits and vegetables that are.  Then parents can afford to buy the fruits and vegetables themselves.  It’s frustrating to see patchwork policies trying to paper over with one hand much bigger issues that the government itself is creating with the other hand.

But in the mean time, this program is a great way to get kids interested in fruits and vegetables, even beyond the serving a day it provides: the program is apparently as big a hit with children, who enjoy the healthier snacks, as it is with the parents and teachers who approve of the better dietary options.

What do you think is the best way to get fruits and vegetables on our children’s plates?