Despite an improving economy, 14.2 percent of households in Missouri reported that they struggled to buy enough food for themselves and their families during 2016–2017, according to a new report released by the Food Research & Action Center.
“How Hungry is America?” provides data on food hardship — the inability to afford enough food — nationally, for every state, the District of Columbia and 108 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) across the country. The report is based on 337,690 interviews in 2016–2017.
Nationally, the report found that after several years of decline, the food hardship rate for all households increased from 15.1 percent in 2016 to 15.7 percent in 2017, about one in six. The food hardship rate for households with children is 1.3 times higher than for households without children.
The report finds:
• Missouri ranked 27th in the nation for food hardship (1 being the worst).
• The food hardship rate in Missouri is considerably higher in households with children, 16.8 percent compared to 12.8 percent, respectively.
“Food hardship affects people in every community in Missouri although it often goes unnoticed by those not experiencing it,” said Jeanette Mott Oxford, executive director, Empower Missouri. “Many parents skip meals so that their children can have more food, and this can impact on their health and job readiness. The size of the problem outlined in the FRAC report increases our urgency as we advocate for the strong, bipartisan version of the Farm Bill, which protects and strengthens the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, commonly known as food stamps).”
The report focuses on data for the nation for 2017 and for every state and the District of Columbia, and 108 MSAs for 2016–2017. It was gathered as part of the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index project, which has been interviewing hundreds of households daily since January 2008. The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) analyzed responses to the question: “Have there been times in the past 12 months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?” A “yes” answer to this question is considered to signal that the household experienced food hardship.
FRAC uses the phrase “food hardship” to avoid confusion with the annual Census Bureau/U.S. Department of Agriculture survey and analysis that produces “food insecurity” numbers, but the concepts are comparable.