This is a crisis — magnified by the pandemic — not of food-production failures but of skyrocketing inequality.
As the COVID pandemic upended the economy in the spring and summer of 2020, tens of millions of Americans lost their jobs and became ever more vulnerable to hunger. In consequence, the country’s network of food banks saw a sudden spike in usage. Just prior to, and at the start of the pandemic, food banks distributed 1.1 billion pounds of food in the first quarter of 2020. By the fall of that year, they were handing out 1.7 billion pounds. Since then, that dizzying increase has leveled off or fallen somewhat in many places, but that doesn’t mean the country’s no longer suffering an epidemic of food insecurity. To the contrary: Large food banks around the country are still reporting far higher levels of need — and of food distribution to attempt to meet that need — than was the case prior to COVID. In Washington, D. C. for example, the big food banks are reporting an increase in usage of more than 60 percent compared to 2019. Put simply, as Thanksgiving rolls around again, millions of Americans are struggling to feed their families the bare minimum on a daily basis. If they are able to have a big spread, it will likely be only thanks to food charities and their volunteers and donors. Meanwhile, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollment is up by 7 million compared to two years ago, with more than 42 million Americans now on food stamps. Of these, more than 4 in 10 are members of families with at least one person working. Throughout much of the South, upward of 15 percent of residents receive SNAP assistance. In New Mexico, the state with the highest rate of food stamp usage in the country, more than one in five residents are enrolled in SNAP. It was in response to the increased reliance on SNAP that the Biden administration, earlier this year, locked into place the largest ever permanent increase in the value of food stamps. Because of this increase, a family of four now qualifies for up to $835 per month in SNAP benefits.
