Double Up Food Bucks New York is an upstate New York nutrition incentive program that enhances the benefits of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables.

It’s a powerful tool for getting New Yorkers in 53 counties to eat healthier – but not if those who need it most don’t know about it. Getting the word out is key, and members of Cornell’s Action Research Collaborative (ARC) looked into the best way to do that.

A survey of hundreds of Double Up recipients revealed that face-to-face interpersonal communication strategies predicted greater total daily fresh fruit and vegetable intake than mass communication methods, such as social media posts, mailings and websites.

“It makes sense why people would want to use modern technology to get this kind of information, yet what we’re finding is that it’s the face-to-face communication that still matters,” said ARC Co-director Neil Lewis Jr. ’13, Nancy and Peter Meinig Family Investigator in the Life Sciences and associate professor of communication in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS).

Lewis is a co-author of “Communication Strategies and Diet Intake Among Fruit and Vegetable Incentive Program Participants in Upstate New York: A Cross-Sectional Analysis,” which published Nov. 4 in the journal Family & Community Health.

The lead author is Eunyoung Myung, postdoctoral researcher at ARC and in the Department of Communication (CALS). Tashara Leak, associate professor of nutritional sciences in the College of Human Ecology and ARC co-director, is a co-author.

The study comes out of a partnership between ARC and the Buffalo-based nonprofit Field & Fork Network, which administers the Double Up Food Bucks program in upstate New York. The program is funded by an $8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture; Leak and Lisa French, CEO of Field & Fork Network, are co-principal directors of the grant.

The research team conducted a survey of Double Up program participants in August 2024; one of the questions asked how recipients first heard about the program. As part of the survey, participants completed the 10-item fruit and vegetable module of the Dietary Screener Questionnaire, developed by the National Cancer Institute, which assesses intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, added sugars and other nutrients.

Earlier research conducted by the ARC focused on online shopping and found that families with young children or transportation challenges were more likely to purchase fruits and vegetables online, including through store websites or Instacart. In general, however, the survey found that face-to-face communication was more powerful in getting potentially food-insecure New Yorkers to purchase fresh produce.

“They’re saying, ‘We need to know the person – I don’t want to just sign up online for anything anymore,’” Leak said. “They need to have some face-to-face interaction, so they understand how to sign up for this program, and the benefits of it.”

Of the 417 survey participants, nearly 70% were female, and the average age was around 46. The communication method reported (face-to-face vs. mass) was fairly evenly split (46.5% to 53.5%); statistical analysis indicated a positive association between face-to-face communication and increased daily intake of whole fruits and vegetables.

French said communication is the key to making Double Up Food Bucks New York work.

“You can build a great benefit, but people need to know it exists, understand how to use it, and hear about it more than once,” she said. “SNAP shoppers are making decisions about their grocery budgets week after week, so our communication has to show up consistently, too.”

Leak said that in the current political climate, with benefits such as SNAP at risk, making dollars go further is vital.

“If you’re getting less (SNAP benefits), you’re probably going to spend what you have on shelf-stable foods,” she said. “If I used to get $200 and now I’m getting only $50 and trying to feed my family, let me get pasta and grains. And so these incentive programs are great.”

The researchers said that while it might be more expensive to hire someone to do outreach, the potential returns make it worthwhile.

“For the people who administer these kinds of programs with shrinking dollars, they’re having to think about the cost,” Lewis said. “Do I hire the community ambassador to go out and do this outreach, or do I spend the money on Facebook ads or something else that might be cheaper? Our research speaks to the importance of high-touch, in-person outreach. You’re getting more bang for your buck.”