More Iowans going hungry, new report shows

CEDAR RAPIDS - Turkey and trimmings won't be the reality for all Iowans this Thanksgiving.

A new report shows that 12 percent of households – about 340,000 Iowans – suffer from food insecurity.

The Iowa Policy Project's report, issued Tuesday, noted that one-third of those are in an even more distressed category, having to frequently skip meals on a regular basis.

“It's a complex problem,” said report author Andrew Cannon.

Food security is defined as having access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Cannon said households reporting more than two food-insecure conditions are classified as food insecure.

Iowa's rate of food insecurity, averaged over 2008-2010, was lower than the national rate of 14.5 percent, or 48.8 million.

Still, more than 16 percent of Iowa children were food insecure from 2006 to 2008, the latest figures available.

Cannon pointed to the recession as a primary factor in food insecurity, as wages and poverty are intertwined with the problem.

Iowa's food insecurity averaged 11.6 percent from 2006 to 2008 and 10.9 percent from 2003 to 2005. That's a jump from 1996 to 1998 when food insecurity in Iowa averaged 8 percent.

The report notes that some of the federal programs that provide food assistance are at risk of being cut.

That web of assistance includes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP - formerly known as food stamps - free and reduced-price school lunches and the Emergency Food Assistance Program.

The latter program distributes fruits and vegetables, meat and poultry, beans, peanut butter and other agricultural commodities to regional emergency feeding organizations.

In Iowa, more than 1,160 local and regional emergency feeding organizations distribute food to those in need.

“All of these programs are critical and work together to relieve food insecurity,” Cannon said.

The report notes that political dynamics in Washington will likely challenge efforts to maintain adequate funding for food programs when the 2012 Farm Bill is written.

Faith-based and nonprofit organizations cannot completely fill the gap, Cannon said.

While the solution is just as complex as the problem, federal programs are an integral part of that assistance network, said Mike Owen, assistant director of the Iowa Policy Project.

“You certainly shouldn't be doing things to undercut it,” he said.