September 23, 2025
On Saturday the USDA gave notice it would no longer collect survey data on food insecurity, saying:
“For 30 years, this study…failed to present anything more than subjective, liberal fodder.”
In fact, through Republican and Democratic administrations, the USDA reported on food insecurity with a consistent, unbiased, scientific process.
Commenting to Eating in America, economist Parke Wilde, an expert on the history of the government’s research on food security, said:
“For many years, USDA's annual report reflected a bipartisan interest in improving food security in the United States. Everybody -- Democrats and Republicans -- wanted to see a lower prevalence of food insecurity and hunger.”
Canceling the evidence won’t cancel the problem, but it will go a long way to hiding it.
And the problem is both persistent and, lately, growing rapidly. The 2023 Household Food Security report found 13.5% of households, with 47 million adults and children, were food insecure, indicating stress and difficulty providing enough food at times. That’s compared to a 20-year low of just over 10% in 2021. Over 5% of households, over 16 million adults and children, had very low food security in 2023, usually experiencing hunger at times, sometimes with no food all day, due to bare cupboards.
The final Household Food Security report under the Trump administration is due out in October and will report on the numbers for 2024. Meanwhile, new Food Stamp cuts to 4 million people and Trump’s cuts to school food and to food distributed to food pantries will create impacts on struggling Americans in 2025. However, this year’s data will go uncollected and the effect of these cuts on food insecurity will remain unknown, for the first time in 30 years.
Dr. Wilde, a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and former scientist at the USDA, pointed out that while some advocated addressing food insecurity with safety net programs and others urged focusing on supporting a robust labor market:
“…everybody agreed that the United States could provide a road to prosperity for all people. This household food security report is not partisan; it is something we all need to understand how well our country is meeting basic needs.”
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