New prescription for healthy living

Veggie Rx program partners with local clinics and Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to prescribe fresh produce in Scott and Carver counties. 

A fresh take on wellness

Every week in July through October, patients line up outside the Family Resource Center in Shakopee and the River Valley Health Services clinic in Chaska to fill their prescriptions. But instead of pills from the pharmacy, they are picking up boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables from local farms.

These patients are enrolled in Veggie Rx, a produce prescription program that is a part of USDA’s Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program. Veggie Rx isn’t meant to replace medications for people who need them. Rather, “Our goal is to help patients gain access to healthy foods to support disease prevention, improve overall health, and make stronger connections with their healthcare providers,” says Extension Health and Nutrition Educator Nikki Johnson. 

Patients with limited income and those at risk or diagnosed with diet-related health conditions like hypertension, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease are prioritized in the program. 

Harvesting health

Veggie Rx seeks to eliminate the two most common barriers that prevent low-income families from accessing fresh food: cost and transportation.

Each season, farmers at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s Farm at the Arb and across the state grow, package and distribute over 2,600 pounds of produce just for Veggie Rx. Patients are encouraged to pick up their prescriptions of locally grown fruits and vegetables at a clinic, but the program also arranges delivery for those who need it. 

Some patients also choose to pick up their prescriptions at Mi C.A.S.A, a Shakopee-based community organization. Johnson notes that partnering with Mi C.A.S.A. was crucial to the success of Veggie Rx, as the organization provides translation and interpreting services that make outreach possible. 

The Veggie Rx clinic sites are set up like farmers markets to entice patients to connect with the community. “Patients don’t just pick up produce and head on their way,” says Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Farm Education Manager Tim Wilson. “They have the opportunity to interact with the health care team and food growers, plus Extension educators who are experts in financial planning, parenting, nutrition, exercise, and more.” 

This includes Extension nutrition educators like SNAP-Ed health and wellness coordinator Maria Teresa Thoreson.*

Transforming recipes and growing healthier communities

“We work really hard so that when they come in, they feel invited,” Thoreson says. 

Chatting with families before and after their produce pickups, she shares information about food safety and the benefits of fruits and vegetables. She also demonstrates recipes with ingredients from each week’s bag of produce for families to taste.

Thoreson says that “Sometimes families come in leery of wanting to try new things. But when I demonstrate recipes, I always add a little flair.”

When serving families from multiple cultural backgrounds, she likes to show families that eating healthily doesn’t mean removing culture; it’s adding to it. Using a variety of herbs and cooking styles, she demonstrates to families that vegetables can be flavorful by incorporating more seasoning, color, texture and taste.

Thoreson likes to tell families that “The food can be as good as you want it to be. Add layers to it!” 

Participants often share their food creations at next week’s visit. “They really enjoy it,” says Thoreson. “When they share these recipes during their visit, they like to show what they’ve learned and pass on their recipes to other families.”

Sowing seeds for sustainable success

Now entering its third year of programming, Veggie Rx serves over 100 patient families. The team is excited about the upcoming growing season and hopes to continue their work providing prescriptions for produce and creating sustainable ways to "strengthen relationships around food, health, and better care systems for Minnesota patients and communities," says Johnson.
Veggie Rx partners include Scott and Carver County Public Health and Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP), the Family Resource Center, River Valley Health Services, and Mi C.A.S.A.

*recently retired