Produce Prescriptions w/Caleb Thomason (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project) - WNC Health Policy Podcast Ep. 26
Image Credit: Mozaffarian et al., Nature Medicine 2022, via Tuft’s - About Food Is Medicine
In the latest episode of the WNC Health Policy Initiative Podcast, we learn from Caleb Thomason about ASAP (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project)'s Produce Prescription Program and how it overlaps as a public health strategy to improve nutrition, increase access to healthy food, and support long-term health outcomes.
By connecting healthcare providers with local farmers and markets, the program helps participants access fresh fruits and vegetables while strengthening Western North Carolina's agricultural economy.
The conversation also places Produce Prescription programs within the broader "Food Is Medicine" movement, which a growing set of interventions that includes medically tailored meals and nutrition incentives like Double SNAP at Farmers' Markets, each designed to address chronic disease through food.
The Produce Prescription Program recently received $400,000 in renewed funding from Blue Cross NC to continue and expand programming into the next year, pointing also to evidence of healthy food access as a long term cost-savings strategy for health insurance providers.
Regarding state policy, the Healthy Opportunities Pilot was a recent success story in addressing upstream determinants of health, like food access. While the state still has no budget and the future of HOP is unclear, other policies that engage both rural farm economies and food access include the proposed House Bill 1154, 'Expand the FarmSHARE Food Hub Program' which seeks to allocate some funding to Double EBT at farmers markers.
