House Farm Bill proposal will deepen hunger for Michiganders

A version of this column originally appeared in The Alpena News.

Right now, Congress is debating the Farm Bill–the main legislation impacting the country’s food systems. A proposal in the U.S. House of Representatives would slash future food assistance benefits for Michiganders by $970,000,000 over the next decade.

Michigan’s congressional delegation must fight to protect the vital benefits that help 1 in every 10 Michigan workers feed their families. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) caseloads remain above pre-pandemic levels and local food banks are struggling to meet rising need in our communities.

Food assistance is especially important to residents of many rural and northern communities where SNAP participation rates are above the state average. Alpena County, for example, has the ninth highest rate in Michigan, with about 1 in 6 households putting food on the table with SNAP.

Source: American Community Survey, 2018-2022 5-Year Estimates (Table S2201)

Food assistance benefits are also critical to farmers and food retailers: every year, shoppers using SNAP generate $1.7 billion in revenue for nearly 9,300 farmers markets and grocery stores all over the state, and nationally they support 200,000 jobs in the grocery industry. In many small towns, SNAP dollars are key to the survival of independent grocery stores that keep their communities from becoming food deserts. 

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) bases SNAP benefits on the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), a theoretical basket of food items that traditionally hasn’t kept up with USDA’s own nutrition standards or aligned with realistic human eating patterns.

The TFP was first developed in 1975 and was updated periodically only to account for inflation. The items in the basket, however, stayed the same for nearly 50 years despite changes in our understanding of what a healthy diet looks like. To ensure that the TFP keeps up with evolving nutrition science and the economic and logistical realities of American families, the 2018 Farm Bill included a requirement for USDA to update the TFP basket items every five years.

The first required update occurred in 2021, raising the maximum SNAP benefit by a modest $1.20 per person per day. This small bump makes it easier for SNAP families to choose nutritious foods that meet their needs within a tight budget. 

But, the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture recently approved a new Farm Bill that would allow future TFP basket updates only if the cost remains the same. Under the proposal, struggling U.S. families would have an estimated $30 billion less to buy food over the next 10 years than they would otherwise. Nearly two-thirds of this cut would come from households with children.

A cost-neutral requirement for future TFP updates would take a great toll on food security and health in northern Michigan, where families already face some of the largest gaps between their current SNAP benefits and actual meal costs.

As the proposal moves through the full House, our elected officials must reject any provision that reduces purchasing power for the 1 in 7 Michiganders who participates in SNAP and further challenges the viability of grocers in small towns and other underserved areas. 

Instead, we urge Congress to embrace the plan offered by the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Chair, Michigan’s own Debbie Stabenow. It includes many of the bipartisan agricultural and environmental priorities included in the House proposal and strengthens SNAP, the nation’s largest anti-hunger program.

To be most effective, SNAP needs a modern benefit structure informed by the latest nutrition science. Any bill that requires the program to remain stuck in the past is a bad deal for Michigan families.