Research has suggested that availability of healthful food varies according to rurality/urbanicity, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation, and sociodemographic variables. We investigated differences in variety and cost of fruits and vegetables in convenience stores, grocery stores, and supermarkets across Mississippi. We…

Limited data exist on the self-reported retention of core educational concepts by Maine Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) participants. We assessed the effectiveness of the program by comparing participants' responses on an EFNEP checklist completed before starting the program, immediately after the program, and 6 months after…

Low-income families experience many barriers to purchasing and preparing healthful foods. To help address some of these barriers, a team created a family-based cooking class, Healthy All Together, in which participants learn strategies for how to stretch their food dollars and feed their families healthful meals. In this article, we describe the…

Youths not only participate in Extension services but also can be equipped as facilitators to extend information about a critical topic to new audiences. Our interdisciplinary team of Extension professionals created a program to equip youths as peer educators, increase youths' awareness and understanding of a new topic (local foods), promote…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has launched a new interactive online program titled Healthy Eating on a Budget. It is an addition to the popular ChooseMyPlate.gov programs, such as the SuperTracker program. The Healthy Eating on a Budget program helps consumers plan, purchase, and prepare healthful meals. This article discusses materials and…

Mid-Atlantic urban consumers were surveyed on their fruit and vegetable purchasing behaviors and their knowledge of produce grown in the region. Consumers were generally unaware of what produce is grown in the mid-Atlantic and during what months they are harvested. Additionally, differences pertaining to number of produce items purchased were…

The release of the latest LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robotics platform in September 2013 has provided a dilemma for many youth robotics leaders. There is a need to understand the differences in the Mindstorms NXT and EV3 in order to make future robotics purchases. In this article the differences are identified regarding software, hardware, sensors, the…

The Local Table project compared results from parallel surveys of consumers and restaurateurs regarding local food purchasing and use. Results were also compared with producers' perception of, capacity for and participation in direct marketing through local venues, on-farm outlets, and restaurants. The surveys found consumers' and restaurateurs'…

This article discusses High School Harvest (HSH), an Extension educator-led project in five Vermont schools to provide students with job training and food system education and to provide lightly processed produce to school lunch programs. One hundred and twenty-one students participated, logging 8,752 hours growing, harvesting, and processing…

This article describes results from a study examining the supply chain for local foods in Maryland school meals, the barriers and opportunities for increasing local foods in schools, and the development of Extension efforts to meet the needs identified. Interviews and surveys were administered with stakeholders, including farmers and food service…

The Empowering Older Adults with Assistive Technology to Shop, Cook and Eat curriculum was designed to provide education about concepts of empowerment and assistive technology for grocery shopping, preparing food, and eating. The curriculum included examples and hands-on demonstrations of assistive technology devices for grocery shopping, food…

Community-Based Social Marketing is presented as a technique to add to Extension's community economic development toolbox by examining perceived benefits and barriers to local food procurement at publicly funded institutions. Data were gathered through 86 in-person interviews with representatives across the supply chain. The findings revealed that…

In-depth interviews with 22 children in migrant work camps (ages 9 through 12) indicated that most were significantly involved in family food preparation, but less in food purchasing. They did not prepare or plan meals based on knowledge of nutrition of safe food-handling practices. (SK)

A random survey of Oklahoma Four H Club members was made by Oklahoma State University to better understand the factors influencing adolescent consumer behavior. Based on this study, suggestions for improving extension consumer education through the Four H Clubs are made. (MF)