Earlier this month I had the opportunity to travel to the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE) 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. FNCE is the largest conference for registered dietitians and nutrition professionals and brings together thousands of food and nutrition professionals working across healthcare, community, industry, and more. Folks from all over the world descended on Minneapolis for four days packed with educational sessions covering relevant topics like Food is Medicine, School Nutrition, Food Access, and Nutrition Communications. 

Here are my top three takeaways and how they relate to our work at Groundwork. 

Health equity was everywhere—as it should be!  

• The conference offered many sessions that touched on health equity and how social determinants of health—non-medical aspects that affect health—play a role in nutrition security. Several sessions also explored how nutritious food can help diverse people reduce and manage harm from chronic diseases. One highlight was learning about pop-up farmers markets that Adagio Health in Pennsylvania has been hosting at sites throughout its community. The pop-up markets reduce barriers for seniors and families who want to access more fresh, local produce and make it easier for them to use benefits through the Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program.
• Adagio’s pop-ups reminded me of the pop-up farmers markets happening in local schools that Groundwork partners with (see spotlight sidebar below). Adagio’s work also reminded me of our Building Resilient Communities program, which offers infrastructure support and guidance to entities such as schools, church kitchens, farms, child care sites and others to increase their ability to get nutritious, local food to more people. We have been piloting the Building Resilient Communities program in Battle Creek, Grand Rapids, and Detroit this past year thanks to funding from W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and we are excited to be expanding statewide after receiving a grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.

The Food is Medicine movement is growing. 

• Produce prescription programs, medically tailored meals, and medically tailored groceries are examples of “food is medicine” strategies in practice. I saw great examples of how these strategies are being used to increase access to nutritious foods, and how they are doing so while offering culturally inclusive foods. In Minnesota, Open Arms Minnesota is delivering medically tailored meals to its community and has developed Hmong and East African menus to provide community members with culturally inclusive foods that support their health.
• Paula Martin, Groundwork’s Community Nutrition Specialist and, like me, a registered dietitian, has been leading the way with our Farms, Food and Health program. Through Farms, Food and Health we’ve increased opportunities for doctors and health professionals to learn more about the connection between local food and health with culinary medicine trainings and health-focused cooking classes—training often done in a recently launched shared teaching kitchen. We’ve also provided information to Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) about how “food is medicine” strategies can provide opportunities for people to access nutritious foods through their Medicaid Health Plans in lieu of services (ILOS).

School and early nutrition is in focus.  

• Child Nutrition Programs like the Child and Adult Care Food Program and school lunch and breakfast programs are core strategies for improving nutrition security for children by helping more kids access nutritious food in their communities.
• Here in Michigan, the Michigan School Meals program is providing 1.4 million children in public school settings with free breakfast and lunch. When paired with the 10 Cents a Meal program that promotes more Michigan-grown fruits, vegetables, and dry beans to be used in meals and snacks, more benefits can be seen—such as providing opportunities for children to explore different foods and hopefully discover more nutritious foods they like, and economic benefits that help Michigan farmers and producers thrive.

Melanie Wong Tran is Groundwork's Farm to Early Care and Education Specialist.
melanie.tran@groundworkcenter.org