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Food and Nutrition Security

Importance of Food and Nutrition Security

Food insecurity creates enormous strain on worker productivity, healthcare spending, and military readiness. The USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) noted household food insecurity was 13.5 percent and was significantly higher than in 2022. Often, food insecurity and diet-related chronic diseases co-exist. Diet-related chronic diseases are the leading causes of death in this country. Ensuring food and nutrition security for everyone in this country will require a better understanding of the complex causes and corresponding solutions of food insecurity and diet-related illnesses. As detailed on our Nutrition and Food Systems Topic Page, NIFA’s approach to advancing food and nutrition security supports the convergence of science and technology needed to transform our food system to shorten supply chains, optimize agricultural productivity, minimize negative environmental impacts, reduce food loss and waste, and ensure a resilient, flexible food system that is safe, affordable, and nutritious. 

NIFA’s Impact

NIFA recognizes nutrition as a cost-effective approach to address many of the societal, environmental, and economic issues faced across the globe today. NIFA works to ensure a safe, nutritious, and secure food supply while also developing, delivering, and disseminating evidence-based nutrition education and promotion to prevent chronic diseases, improve health, and prioritize nutrition security. NIFA partners with the Land-grant University System and government, private, and non-profit organizations to support science. Our agency also invests in developing nutrition scientists across all stages of professional development to use an integrated approach to prioritizing nutrition security and ensuring sustainable agricultural systems through research, education, and extension. NIFA invests more than $220 million in research, education, extension, and innovation to advance food and nutrition security.

NIFA aims to help prioritize nutrition security by focusing on:

  • Using Innovative Trans-Disciplinary Solutions to Promote Healthy Eating Patterns and Behaviors to tackle the “whole picture” regarding underlying factors and most promising strategies.
  • Harnessing a Holistic Research Agenda, from Farm to Fork working along every link of the food chain to build a more sustainable, resilient, equitable and nourishing food system, including:
    • Production (e.g., agroecology, community and home food gardening, urban agriculture, farmers’ markets, regional food systems)
    • Preparation (e.g., ensuring sufficient, safe, and nutritious food preparation in culturally, contextually, and economically sensitive ways including disaster preparedness)
    • Promotion (e.g., Fostering a circular economy in rural areas by promoting local and regional food supply chains)
    • Consumption (e.g., enabling positive and sustained healthy eating behavior to decrease the health and financial burden of diet-related non-communicable diseases and health disparities)
    • Increase access to and improve the nutritional quality of our federal nutrition safety net
    • Disposal (e.g., limit food loss and waste while ensuring food safety)
  • Integrating with Climate-Smart Agriculture on transformative discoveries, education, and engagement.
  • Engaging Individual, Family, and Community Agency and Capacity Building

Key Programs

  • Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP): Operates through land-grant universities as the Nation’s first nutrition education program for populations living below the Federal poverty line and remains at the forefront of nutrition education efforts to address food and nutrition security, EFNEP uses hands-on learning, applied science, and program data to support participants’ health and well-being. EFNEP is proven to improve nutrition, stretch food dollars, and increase physical activity. EFNEP reaches all 50 states, six U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia. More than 88,000 adults and 300,000 children participate annually, and an additional 250,000 family members are reached indirectly. Roughly 80% of adult participants are at or below the federal poverty line, and more than 70% of adult participants are people of color and/or of Hispanic ethnicity. Annually, more than 90% of participants report improved behaviors. Last year, 95% of adults improved their diet, including consuming additional fruits and vegetables, with program graduates reporting a collective food cost savings of $558,000. Additionally, EFNEP provided employment to 1,363 peer educators who are members of the communities they serve. In March 2024, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture hosted a listening session at the National EFNEP Conference and is working to integrate feedback into program improvement going forward.
  • Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP): Brings together stakeholders from various parts of the food and healthcare systems, to conduct and evaluate projects providing incentives to increase the purchase or procure more fruits and vegetables by income-eligible consumers. Since GusNIP was launched in 2019, the program has provided more than $270 million in funding to nearly 200 projects throughout the US. The GusNIP year 4 impact findings indicate the projects generated more than $1 million in economic benefit for surrounding local economics, while also addressing food security and improving produce consumption.
  • Community Food Projects (CFP): Supports the development of community-based food projects with the goal of improvement of community food security.
  • Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program: Supports programs that aim to increase children's knowledge of agriculture and improve their nutritional health.
  • Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Diet, Nutrition, Prevention of Chronic Diseases (A1344): Invests in integrated projects that help prevent and control chronic disease across the lifecycle by supporting and encouraging culturally relevant, healthy dietary choices through data-driven, flexible, customer-focused approaches.
  • A1722 USDA Nutrition Hubs: Provides effective, translatable, and scaleable approaches to advance food and nutrition security and reduce the burden of diet-related chronic diseases through a coordinated approach involving Extension, Education, and Research activities. 

Other Relevant Programs

Integrating Youth Perspective

Our efforts aim to foster youth voice and integrate youth perspective where possible. Learn more from these relevant resources:

Indigenous Traditional Ecological Perspective

NIFA has elevated the importance of integrating Indigenous Traditional Ecological Perspective. We are working to help build the evidence base and translate the evidence into action for promoting Indigenous Food Sovereignty. Learn more from these relevant resources:

Other Relevant Topic Pages

 

Consumer Resources – USA.gov Government Benefits explains how to apply for and find social support programs, including nutrition assistance. Nutrition.gov is a USDA sponsored website that offers credible information to help you make healthful eating choices.

Nutrition Professional Resources – The USDA National Agricultural Library’s Food and Nutrition Information Center provides access to a range of  resources from both government and non-government sources.

Nutrition Security Research Resources – The USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) conducts economic research on numerous topics central to food and nutrition security and provides links to selected ERS research and resources on these topics.

Page last updated: March 26, 2025
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