U.S. Hunger

What is food insecurity?

Food insecurity measures the difficulty a household has accessing food. Rather than focusing on how much food is consumed or the nutritional value of the food consumed, food insecurity is concerned with the ability of a household to access food reliably. Food insecurity points to two separate but related barriers to adequate food, the economic and the social.

Economic barriers

Economic inaccessibility of food is clear and what is usually envisioned when thinking about hunger. If a household does not have enough income to purchase enough food then they suffer from food insecurity due to economic causes.

Social barriers

Social barriers include food deserts, the need to work many hours to earn a living wage, and the inaccessibility of culturally appropriate food. These factors, as well as others, can contribute to food insecurity even though the amount of money a household earns might appear to be enough to purchase food.

Read more about food insecurity here.

The extent of hunger

According to the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, 1 in 4 Americans participated in a federal nutrition program in 2011. The full report can be found here. Feeding America reports that 21.3% of children experienced food insecurity in 2009. That report can be read here.

The U.S. farm bill

Every five years Congress renews the farm bill, comprehensive legislation that sets most U.S. food and agricultural policies including SNAP (formerly food stamps). The farm bill is also the primary legislation that determines the country’s international policies on agriculture and food, including trade, farm subsidies and international food aid.

More information about the farm bill will be available in our upcoming Spring/Summer Washington Memo. Sign up to receive the memo here.

Contact your Congressperson to call for a just farm bill here.