Billings resident Kaity Harmon is a stay-at-home mom who, on a Friday morning in December, is meeting at RiverStone Health in Billings to talk about her youngest child’s diet: “We do a lot of yogurt, cheese.”
Harmon's son, Caden, is one of more-than 13,000 Montanans enrolled in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC.
Qualifying families must live within 185% of the poverty line. That’s an income of about $58,000 a year or less for a family of four. Now, the USDA is changing what ends up on those families’ tables.
The agency for the first time since 2014 is updating the food groups the program covers to better fit the current dietary guidelines for Americans. Montana WIC Program Director Lacy Little said each state determines how it implements the updated standards.
“In Montana when we were looking at the new food rule, we really did take into account what the cost was,” said Little.
Approved foods in Montana’s WIC program include more whole grains for adults, more fish, fruits, and vegetables for all age groups and flexible options for infants to tailor foods to their individual needs. New guidance decreases juice and milk amounts, and families have the option to substitute food types. For instance, decreasing juice amounts in exchange for another food.
Harmon said ultimately WIC can cut her family’s bill in half or more at the cash register.
“It honestly makes me feel so good and also a little bit like, what are we gonna do when we don’t have this?” Harmon said.
Changes to WIC food benefits take effect in Montana January 1.
