Michigan Harvest to Table™ (MiHarvest) (formerly called Michigan Harvest of the Month™ (HOTM)) is a multi-level intervention designed to increase consumption of and access to fruits and vegetables; increase consumption of locally grown produce by connecting growers to schools in their communities, retail, farmers market, and emergency food settings; and link child-focused nutrition education in schools with adult-focused supports in community based food access settings. MiHarvest™ features ready-to-go supplemental nutrition education materials that can easily be integrated into the core curriculum and are aligned with the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Target Behavior: Healthy Eating

Intervention Type: Direct Education, Social Marketing, PSE Change

MiHarvest™ is a a supplemental nutrition education resource for communities, schools, retail/grocery stores, farmers markets, and food banks and pantries. 

Setting: School, Community, Retail

Age: Elementary School, Middle School, High School, Parents/Mothers/Fathers, Adults, Older Adults, Homeless/Food Pantry Clients

Race/Ethnicity: All

MiHarvest™ includes site-specific supplemental resources with components tailored for the audience’s needs. Marketing, training, and technical assistance are coordinated and supported statewide by the Michigan Fitness Foundation and are available virtually. Trainees include teachers participating in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) who are implementing MiHarvest™ activities and its resources throughout classrooms and cafeterias in an effort to coordinate the delivery of FFVP snacks with nutrition education to increase fruit and vegetable intake among children.

Examples of MiHarvest™ materials used in school-based settings and point-of-access-based sites include:

School-Based Programming:

• Educator Newsletter
• Family Newsletter to reinforce messages with families
• Botanical Image Worksheet for nutrition lessons
• Nutrition Facts Worksheet for nutrition lessons
• Family Approved: Recipes from Michigan Harvest of the Month – a 43 recipe cookbook featuring 21 different produce items to help families prepare and consume more fruits and vegetables
• Standardized recipe cards

Community Based Programs:

• Pop-up counter for tasting demonstrations
• Standardized recipe cards
• Poster to promote food demonstrations
• Grocery store shelf tags
• Signage with handout rack for displaying core message and take-away resources
• Activity sheet featuring produce and MyPlate

An online library of Michigan Harvest to Table™ (MiHarvest) materials (activities, recipes, family newsletters, community newsletters and digital media components) is currently expanding and is available by subscription. Arabic and Spanish-language materials are available as well other program materials upon request.

Annual subscription with print permission, price to be determined. Customized packages at scale will be quoted on an individual basis.

Custom printing for produce grown in other states available.

Parents of children who participated in the original version of Michigan Harvest of the Month interventions (vs. control group) reported their children were significantly more likely than children who did not receive the intervention to eat more fruits and vegetables, choose fruits as snacks, ask parents to buy fruits and vegetables, and prepare new recipes with vegetables.  Among teachers who responded to a survey about the materials, 78% said they want to use them again, 70% found ease of materials to be very high or high, and 75% said they would recommend this resource to other teachers.

Evidence of Michigan Harvest of the Month’s efficacy in retail point-of-access settings is referenced in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior (Scott, MK, Rahrig, J, Cullen, SR, McConaughy, P, MkNelly, B, Sugarman, S, Khaira, K.  Grocer-added SNAP-Ed Social marketing campaign to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. JNEB. 2014; 46(4S): S156 at https://www.jneb.org/article/S1499-4046(14)00332-7/abstract); and in the Michigan Fitness Foundation’s USDA SNAP-Ed Final Reports, FFY 2013 and 2014 which includes evaluation reports conducted by CA Public Health Institute.

Classification: Practice-tested

Based on the SNAP-Ed Evaluation Framework, the following outcome indicators can be used to evaluate intervention progress and success.

	Readiness and Capacity – Short Term (ST)	Changes – Medium Term (MT)	Effectiveness and Maintenance – Long Term (LT)	Population Results (R)
Individual	ST1,	MT1
Environmental Settings		MT5
Sectors of Influence

 

For school-based evaluation, tailored pre-post surveys for students and standardized surveys for parents, teachers, and child nutrition directors are available.

Website: The Michigan Harvest to Table™ website (www.michiganharvesttotable.org) includes a program overview, and samples of a featured vegetable newsletter in English and Spanish.

Contact Person:
Teresa Zwemer
Director of Resources and Training
Email: resources@michiganfitness.org
Phone: 1-800-434-8642

 

Updated as of October 2, 2023