food insecurity
A decade later, food insecurity rate returns to pre-recession level
Some 11.1 percent of U.S. households are food insecure, meaning they did not have enough food at times during 2018 due to a lack of money or other resources, said the USDA on Wednesday. It was the lowest food insecurity rate since 2007, just before the Great Recession drove food stamp enrollment and costs to record highs.
SNAP benefits “fall short,” an increase would improve food security, says think tank
Tougher SNAP rules may worsen food insecurity, per USDA analysis
Proposed rule would ease standards for retailers that accept SNAP
The Department of Agriculture issued a proposed rule Friday that would ease the standards for how many and what types of products food retailers must stock in order to accept SNAP benefits at their stores. An Obama-era rule had expanded the amount of healthy foods that retailers had to stock in order to participate in the program.
Rural poverty rate drops twice as fast as U.S. average, still high
Rural incomes are up and the rural poverty rate is down, dropping twice as fast as the U.S. average, said the Census Bureau on Wednesday in its annual report on income and poverty.
Food insecurity rates continue to fall, USDA report finds
National food insecurity continued to decline in 2017, according to a new report from the Department of Agriculture, and now affects 11.8 percent of U.S. households, down from 12.3 percent in 2016.
New report finds rate of ‘food hardship’ has risen since 2016
A new report from the Food Research and Action Center found that the food hardship rate for households across the country has increased from 15.1 percent in 2016 to 15.7 percent in 2017. The rate increase was higher for households with children, from 17.5 percent to 18.4 percent. The study comes as wages remain stagnant, despite falling unemployment.
USDA predicts decline in global food insecurity in annual report
The Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service in June released its annual International Food Security Assessment (IFSA), an outlook for global food security for the coming decade. The report estimated that global food security would improve over the coming 10 years, with a decline in the number of food-insecure people from 782 million in 2018 to 446 million in 2028.
Public nutrition program in Puerto Rico gets $1.27-billion boost
Puerto Rico's version of the food stamp program temporarily will cover more households and provide larger benefits to participants as it recovers from hurricane damage, said the USDA. The maximum benefit for a family of four will rise to $649 as a result of a $1.27 billion line item in the government funding bill passed by Congress earlier this month.
Immigrants cautious of food assistance in Trump era, experts say
Undocumented immigrants have become cautious of seeking food aid in the Trump era because of fears they could be targeted for deportation, said a panel of food security experts last week in San Francisco.
Hunger rates in 52 countries are high despite global progress
Global hunger levels are down by 27 percent since 2000 yet they remain at "serious," "alarming" or "extremely alarming" levels in 52 countries, said the think tank International Food Policy Research Institute in releasing its Global Hunger Index. Beyond the immediate impact of food shortages and climate change, "long-term obstacles to reducing hunger in several countries may also be threatening efforts to reach zero hunger," said IFPRI.
Ethiopian drought kills livestock, ramping up need for food aid
Nearly one-fifth of Ethiopia is in need of food aid, as a punishing drought kills off livestock in areas where people — especially pregnant women and children — rely on milk for nutrition, Reuters says.
Forecast: rising income and stable food prices will halve hunger rate in food-aid countries
Some 646 million people are food insecure, with diets of less than 2,100 calories a day, in the 76 low- and middle-income nations that are current or traditional food-aid recipients, says the USDA in forecasting a dramatic improvement in the decade ahead.
Large supplies will keep a lid on food prices, says FAO report
In August 2015, U.S. district judge Ralph Erickson blocked the Obama administration's Waters of the United States rule from taking effect, the first injunction against the clean water rule. Now the North Dakota judge would be elevated to the U.S. appellate court under a nomination announced by the White House.
Food insecurity is highest in rural and southern counties
A report from the antihunger group Feeding America says that food insecurity rates are highest in rural counties and in the South, says the news site CityLab. For the report, Feeding America combined data from USDA, the Census Bureau and the Labor Department "to stitch together a portrait of food insecurity at the state and county levels," says CityLab, with Jefferson County along the Mississippi River in southwestern Mississippi having the highest rate in the nation, 38 percent.
Immigrants refuse food stamps over deportation fears
Nervous that applying for food stamps will hurt their immigration status or put them at risk of deportation, immigrants are dropping food relief services. “Officials at Manna Food Center in Montgomery County, Md., report that about 20 percent of the 561 families they have helped apply for food stamps, or SNAP benefits, in the past few months have asked that their cases be closed,” says NPR.
‘Unprecedented’ threat of four famines at same time, says FAO
Although global food supplies are robust, the world faces "an unprecedented situation" of four threats of famine in multiple countries simultaneously, says the assistant director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
In South Sudan, 100,000 people face starvation in man-made famine
Three U.N. agencies said war and a collapsing economy have put 100,000 people at risk of starvation in South Sudan. An additional 1 million are on the brink of starvation, said the agencies, which warned, "The total number of food insecure people is expected to rise to 5.5 million at the height of the lean season in July if nothing is done to curb the severity and spread of the food crisis."
War devastates agriculture in Gaza
Two-thirds of the cropland in the Gaza Strip has been damaged by shelling, razing, and vehicle traffic since armed conflict began a year ago in the territory, said two UN agencies. The escalating agricultural damage exacerbated a food shortage, said the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Satellite Center.