Study: UI Extension Eat Smart Idaho program generates tremendous return

A new study shows that every dollar invested in University of Idaho Extension’s Eat Smart Idaho program results in $11.62 of economic benefits through avoided chronic disease medical costs and lost earnings.

UI Extension has operated Eat Smart Idaho in its current form since 2012 to prevent chronic diseases by teaching participants about diet quality, physical activity, food safety and food resource management practices. However, Extension has been involved in federally funded nutrition education since the early 1970s.

The program’s nutrition advisors visit community locations such as emergency food sites, adult rehabilitation centers, public housing and schools with high rates of free and reduced lunch. They teach classes covering the basics of healthy eating, smart shopping, food safety, quick meal preparation, management of limited grocery dollars and physical activity. The program also provides cooking demonstrations and healthy food sampling in schools, food pantries and other community locations.

Authors of the study, published Sept. 27 in Nutrients Journal, include Eat Smart Idaho Director Annie Roe, an associate professor of food and nutrition; Eat Smart Idaho Manager Kristin Hansen; UI Extension southern district director Joey Peutz; UI Extension educator Shelly Johnson, Kootenai County; UI Extension educator Siew Guan Lee, Twin Falls County; Jocelyn Elvira, with U of I’s Project ECHO Idaho; Andrea Leschewski, with the Ness School of Management and Economics at South Dakota State University; and Nurgul Fitzgerald, with the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Rutgers University.

“This study shows that Eat Smart Idaho can make a real difference for Idaho families — helping families stretch their food dollars, eat healthier and build lasting habits,” Hansen said. “It reinforces that small investments in nutrition education can have a big impact on health and economic well-being across our communities.”

Eat Smart Idaho currently serves about half of Idaho counties, and the program is conducting a needs assessment to prioritize where its limited resources should be invested.

The roughly $1.2 million Eat Smart Idaho annual budget has thus far been funded by two U.S. Department of Agriculture grants — SNAP-Ed, which is administered by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to teach federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients how to best use their food assistance, has provided three-fourths of the funding while about a quarter has come from the federal Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). EFNEP, awarded to land-grant institutions, is the nation’s first nutrition education program for low-income populations.

SNAP-Ed’s federal funding was recently eliminated. However, Extension has structured its program to allocate funds from a year in arrears in its current fiscal year budget, and the state is allowing the program to spend its unused SNAP-Ed balance on continuing Eat Smart Idaho throughout the coming year.

Roe acknowledges the budgeting plan isn’t sustainable, but it could buy Eat Smart Idaho time to find new revenue sources.

“We are actively looking for grants to support Eat Smart Idaho,” Roe said. “I just had a meeting with our team, and we talked about how we are Eat Smart Idaho. We are not SNAP-Ed and we are not EFNEP."

Eat Smart Idaho’s federal grants fund 20 full- and part-time program staff. An Extension specialist and four county Extension faculty, who shoulder many other responsibilities, are also involved in running the program.

Extension is aiming to maintain the current scope of existing Eat Smart Idaho programs and partnerships but won’t look to grow those programs or forge new partnerships. The program’s travel budget will also be reduced.

“We are continuing Eat Smart Idaho. It probably won’t look much different to people from the outside for the next year, but our structure might look a little different after this next year,” Roe said. “As much as we’ve done, we haven’t solved food insecurity, and we haven’t eliminated chronic disease, so the need is still there.”