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Farm Bill

The farm bill is the centerpiece federal legislation for food and farming. It impacts access to nutritious food for the millions of people in the United States facing hunger.

What’s at Stake?

When people have access to the food and resources they need to thrive, they are able to contribute to the prosperity of their communities and our country as a whole. Unfortunately, hunger exists in every county, parish and borough in the United States.

Through the next farm bill, our nation has a viable pathway to help the nearly 44 million people living in food insecure households in the U.S. put food on the table.ⁱ

The farm bill is an expansive piece of legislation that governs many nutrition and agriculture programs. The farm bill reauthorization process, which typically occurs every five years, provides an opportunity to improve and strengthen The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), the Nutrition Assistance Program (NAP) and more. These nutrition programs work in tandem with food banks across the country to assist families and individuals facing hunger.

As grocery prices rise and supply chain disruptions continue, lawmakers must come together to pass a bipartisan farm bill that supports food banks and the people they serve.

A farmer is pictured on large orange machinery

What’s Feeding America Doing?

Feeding America is urging Congress to double down on our nation’s commitment to ending hunger by strengthening critical nutrition programs in the next farm bill that help seniors, families, children, active military members and others. This should include building on program innovations implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also important that Congress centers the voices of people facing hunger.

The federal nutrition programs are proven and essential ways to help ensure everyone in the U.S., regardless of race, background or ZIP code, can access the food and resources they say they need to thrive.

In the next farm bill, Feeding America calls on lawmakers to:

Increase TEFAP funding to help people facing hunger and support the U.S. agricultural economy.

Congress should:

Reauthorize and double annual mandatory funding for TEFAP food purchases.ⁱⁱ
Reauthorize and increase to $200 million annual discretionary funding for TEFAP storage and distribution.ⁱⁱⁱ
Reauthorize $15 million in annual discretionary funding for TEFAP infrastructure grants.

Bolster the TEFAP Farm to Food Bank Program.

Congress should increase funding for the TEFAP Farm to Food Bank Program, remove the state match, and allow states to prioritize projects for donated food or food purchased at a low cost from local growers and producers.

Protect SNAP’s purchasing power.

Congress should ensure SNAP purchasing power remains strong so that benefits align with grocery prices and provide adequate support during tough economic times.

Streamline SNAP eligibility and enrollment processes.

Congress should:

Improve SNAP access for older adults, college students, veterans, working families, immigrants and other people who do not qualify for or are unable to participate in SNAP due to eligibility and enrollment barriers.
Help more military families access SNAP benefits by excluding the Basic Allowance for Housing from the gross income calculation for SNAP eligibility.
Protect SNAP choice and focus on ensuring affordable access to nutritious foods.

Provide better support for individuals seeking employment.

Congress should:

Adequately fund and improve state employment and training programs.
Ensure people receiving SNAP benefits can access training opportunities that align with best practices.
Prevent the expansion of SNAP work requirements and preserve state flexibility to respond to local economic conditions.

Reauthorize and streamline CSFP.

Congress should reduce the administrative burden for program participants and increase program efficiency by streamlining reporting requirements.

Ensure sovereignty for Native communities.

Congress should:

Allow tribal governments the flexibility to administer federal nutrition programs as decided by the tribe.
Allow people receiving SNAP benefits to also receive Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) benefits.

Ensure parity in food assistance for Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories.

Congress should allow Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories to transition from capped Nutrition Assistance Program (NAP) block grants to full participation in SNAP.

Ensure the inclusion of cultural foods in hunger-relief programs.

Congress should expand the availability of cultural foods in federal nutrition programs, such as halal-approved and -certified foods.

Fast Facts

The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)

TEFAP moves food from farms to food banks to individuals and families facing hunger.

Between July 2022 and June 2023, the Feeding America food bank network distributed over 900 million pounds of TEFAP foods, providing over 700 million meals to people facing hunger. This included food provided through TEFAP entitlement food purchases, USDA bonus commodity food purchases made to support U.S. commodity producers and distributed through TEFAP, and short-term COVID recovery funding for additional TEFAP food purchases.
The amount of food the Feeding America network received from TEFAP decreased by nearly half between Feeding America fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2023, straining food bank supplies during a period of elevated demand.
Feeding America network food banks distribute TEFAP foods in about 96% of rural counties.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

SNAP is the cornerstone of the nation’s federal nutrition programs, providing approximately 40 million people in the U.S. with monthly food benefits via an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card.^iv

In federal fiscal year 2020:
- 41% of SNAP participants were children;
- 16% were 60 or older; and
- 12% were adults with disabilities under 60.^v
Most people receiving SNAP benefits who can work, do work. In federal fiscal year 2020:
- Nearly one-quarter (25%) of households receiving SNAP benefits had income from earnings.
- Nearly half (48%) of households with children had earned income.
- 5% of households that included adults over 60 had earned income.^vi

Every dollar of SNAP benefits spent helps generate $1.50 in economic activity during periods of economic decline.^vii
As the percentage of U.S. households with adults over 60 has increased, so has the number of households that receive benefits from Social Security.^viii Many older adults turn to SNAP to help ensure they can afford food and other necessities while living on fixed Social Security budgets. In federal fiscal year 2019, 31% of households receiving SNAP benefits also received income from Social Security.^ix

Additional Programs and Initiatives

Around 695,000 people ages 60 and older with low incomes received nutritious food boxes through the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) in fiscal year 2023.^x CSFP helps address diet-related health conditions often experienced by older adults who are facing food insecurity and who are at risk of hunger.
In 2022, an estimated 38% of all food in the U.S.—89 million tons—went unsold or uneaten.^xi Feeding America network food banks partner with growers, producers, food companies, retailers and restaurants to ensure this nutritious food is connected to people facing hunger, and programs authorized in the farm bill help make this happen.

References

i. Rabbitt et al., Households Food Security in the United States in 2022, USDA Economic Research Service (2023), https://search.nal.usda.gov/discovery/delivery/01NAL_INST:MAIN/12411959980007426.

ii.Under Feeding America’s proposal, this would be around $920 million per year for TEFAP food purchases at current inflation levels. Feeding America’s proposal would double the base amount for mandatory TEFAP food purchases from $250 million to $500 million per year, adjusted annually for inflation. (Under current law, food purchases are authorized at $250 million per year, which has been adjusted annually for inflation since 2008. For fiscal year 2023, that inflation-adjusted funding amount was $445 million.)

iii. Congress provided $92 million in discretionary funding for TEFAP storage and distribution for fiscal year 2023.

iv. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, “National and/or State Level Monthly and/or Annual Data,” U.S. Department of Agriculture, updated February 9, 2024, https://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap.

v. Kathryn Cronquist and Brett Eiffes, ”Table 3.6.b. SNAP benefits of participants by selected demographic characteristics, waiver period,” Characteristics of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Households: FY 2020 and Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic, U.S. Department of Agriculture (2022), 33, https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/Characteristics2020.pdf.

vi. Kathryn Cronquist and Brett Eiffes, ”Table A.6.b. Distribution of participating households with children, elderly individuals, and non-elderly individuals with disabilities by type of countable income, waiver period,” Characteristics of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Households: FY 2020 and Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic, U.S. Department of Agriculture (2022), 58, https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/Characteristics2020.pdf.

vii. Patrick Canning and Brian Stacy, The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Economy: New Estimates of the SNAP Multiplier, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (July 2019), https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/93529/err-265.pdf?v=5089.1.

viii. Administration for Community Living. 2020 Profile of Older Americans, May 2021. https://acl.gov/sites/default/files/aging%20and%20Disability%20In%20America/
2020Profileolderamericans.final_.pdf. ; Michael D. King, “New Interactive Data Tool Shows Characteristics of Those Who Receive Assistance from Government Programs.” Census.gov. United States Census Bureau, May 24, 2022. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/05/who-is-receiving-social-safety-net-benefits.html.

ix. Kathryn Cronquist and Brett Eiffes, “Table B.6.b. Distribution of participating households by selected countable income sources and by State, waiver period,” Characteristics of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Households: Fiscal Year 2019, U.S. Department of Agriculture (March 2021), https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/characteristics-snap-households-fy-2019.

x. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, “CSFP Participation.” USDA, updated February 9, 2024,
https://covid19.census.gov/documents/
3f54a929466e4f6da4d1d538bd25bb40/explore.

xi. ReFED. “Food Waste Challenge.” ReFED. Accessed February 16, 2024. https://refed.org/food-waste/the-challenge.