Ivanka Trump aims to expand access to fresh produce

Ivanka Trump is trying to expand Americans’ access to fresh produce through the company she co-founded two years ago. 

“So many of the challenges we face today — from rising healthcare costs and chronic disease to food waste and the pressure on small farmers — can be traced to a common root: how we grow, distribute, and access our food,” Trump posted Friday on Instagram. 

In 2023, Trump, President Donald Trump’s oldest daughter, co-founded Planet Harvest with Melissa Ackerman, who serves as its CEO. It’s described as a profit-for-purpose company with a mission to not only support small farmers but increase access to fresh produce, reduce waste and advance nutrition, according to her post.  

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On its website, the company touted that it has led national food relief efforts, fueled category growth for farmers and retailers, and built supply chain programs to withstand tough conditions. 

“We’re focused on scalable solutions and whole-harvest sourcing that gets fruits and vegetables, including surplus and overlooked crops, from farmers to grocers, food service companies, retail brands, Food-as-Medicine boxes, and emergency feeding programs,” Trump wrote in the Friday social media post. 

Her post comes as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. makes his “Make America Healthy Again” initiative a central focus of his tenure as the secretary of health and human services.

The movement is focused, in part, on improving nutrition, and “reverse the chronic disease epidemic,” according to its website. 

In 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that 18 million households (13.5%) were food insecure, meaning they had difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources. 

Limited access to healthy food, in particular, can pose significant health problems.

“Inconsistent access to healthy food does have adverse health effects,” Erica Kenney, assistant professor of public health nutrition at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, said in a statement. “And many people are stuck with eating food that is more likely to bring on chronic disease.”