Recipient Organization
MICHIGAN STATE UNIV
(N/A)
EAST LANSING,MI 48824
Performing Department
Agricultural, Food, & Resource Economics
Non Technical Summary
The global food supply chain presents several challenges to industry participants as well as the consumers who expect quality affordable food. The overarching direction of our project is to improve understanding of (1) how the nature of global food supply chains impact access to nutritious food, (2) the policies that influence such access and consumer food preferences, (3) the long-term value of nutrition education, and (4) the consequential health outcomes for the poor.The food environment can be defined as the context within which food is consumed. For example, Glanz and Yaroch (2004) define the consumer nutrition environment as the area surrounding the place where consumers purchase food. The food environment plays a major role in the types of foods and nutrients that are consumed in households. Key food environmental factors include product availability and cost, as well as quality of healthy food choices. St-Onge et al. (2003) list other factors such as the changing nature of the food supply, increase in reliance on foods consumed away from home, and food advertising, marketing and promotion as being environmental determinants of consumption. This research agenda fits under the USDA Knowledge areas: 603 - Market Economics, 607 - Consumer Economics, and 610 and 611 - Domestic and Foreign Policy and program analysis.Over the past decade, there has been an increasing interest in evaluating access to nutritious food and how access impacts human health. Based on expressed concerns by international and domestic stakeholder groups, academics have pursued research and published related studies on these relationships in a variety of journals, including BMC Public Health, Urban Studies, Supply Chain Management, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, and Journal of Agricultural and Food Industrial Organization. The types of questions explored include: Who has access to nutritious affordable food and why? Is this phenomenon of low access to nutritious food a global problem? Are there policies that are increasing or decreasing access to nutritious foods? If access has improved, is nutrition education required to improve health outcomes? and Is nutrition education cost effective? (Dollahite et al., 2003 and 2008; Lambur et al., 1999; Rajgopal et al., 2002; Schuster et al., 2003).Globally, policy makers are increasingly focusing on the factors that inhibit access to nutritious foods, purchase of nutritious foods and the value of nutrition education in reaching their overall goal of improving the health of their populations. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent annually in the U.S. alone on nutrition education programs whose impacts on diet-related diseases or long-term cost effectiveness have not been rigorously evaluated. For example, 2018 expenditures on the USDA's SNAP-ed program was $421 million (USDA-SNAPED, 2020) while the expenditures on the USDA/NIFA EFNEP program was $68 million (USDA-NIFA, 2020).Our research findings are applicable to all economies, but particularly important to countries, states and regions that have high rates of poverty or are steeped in agri-food production. The direction of research and subsequent findings are therefore relevant for Michigan food supply chain participants and consumers.
Animal Health Component
90%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
90%
Developmental
10%
Goals / Objectives
The goal is to apply theoretical and empirical economic tools to address food access, nutrition education and human health research questions, and present the findings and implications to academic peers, AgBioResearch, the private sector, policy makers, community leaders, and national and international audiences. Specific research objectives are as follows:Describe the local food related environment and household factors that contribute to malnutrition in poor low-access areas;Measure the degree to which household income, food price, and food product quality influence the demand for healthy foods in households and neighborhoods with different socio-economic status and with varying degrees of access to healthy food;Estimate the short-term and long-term impact of EFNEP on participant biomarkers of chronic disease risk, including body mass index (BMI), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and blood pressure,Develop and apply a cost-benefit analysis methodology that uses biomarkers to quantify program benefits as dollars saved from the prevention and onset delay of chronic diseases.
Project Methods
The research objectives will require a wide range of research methods that will be tailored to each application. A brief description of the appropriate kinds of research methods are listed below.Statistical and cost benefit analysis of project data from the NC3169: EFNEP Related Research, Evaluation and Outreach Program pilot study will be used to assess the feasibility of biomarker data collection among EFNEP participants. This study is funded by the Regional Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Centers of Excellence (Western Region). In addition to the collection of EFNEP's standardized data tools (i.e. behavioral checklist questions and 24-hour dietary recalls), three biomarkers of chronic disease were measured in the pilot: body mass index (BMI), blood pressure and hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c). Cost-benefit analysis will be applied using biomarker data from the pilot study and a comparison of estimates obtained using behavioral data and biomarker-based cost-benefit methodologies will be conducted.Statistical analysis of nutritious food access and consumer preferences will come from secondary data from the ministries of statistics and/or agriculture in developing countries and/or the World Food Program. The Rwandan Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability and Nutrition Survey data is an example of the type of data used. These data include prices, quantities, types of food products, distance to market and etc. Hence, differences-in-differences, food income and price elasticities, and supply chain analysis will be used to assess if access has been changed due to policy changes.