As a University of Minnesota professor and a dietitian working in a historically underserved neighborhood, I see every day what it means for families to live with food insecurity. Many worry about running out of food — or sometimes actually do — before they have money to buy more.
Parents skip meals so their children can eat. Kids arrive to school distracted by hunger. Patients with diabetes or heart disease face impossible choices, deciding between paying for medication or buying the food they need to follow their prescribed diets.
Because I’ve seen the impact of food insecurity, I am alarmed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to cancel its annual food insecurity survey. For 30 years, this survey provided the nation’s most reliable measure of households struggling to afford food. In 2023, it showed 13.5% of U.S. households were food insecure. Ending the survey doesn’t make hunger disappear, it hides hunger from view.
Related: Hunger fears grow in Minnesota as food shelves are overwhelmed
Food insecurity hits close to home in Minnesota
Across Minnesota, hunger is real and felt in homes, schools and communities. In 2024, one in five Minnesota households could not afford enough food; for households with children, it was one in four. Food shelf visits reached a record 9 million. More than a third of those visitors were children, and in Ramsey County, nearly 20% of kids experience food insecurity. These are our neighbors, students, and patients. They deserve acknowledgment, not erasure.
The survey was more than numbers — it was a lifeline. Without it, families’ struggles risk going unseen.
For clinicians like me, the survey provided essential context. When I screen patients for food insecurity, I can connect their experiences to broader patterns. If national data disappear, health systems may be less inclined to prioritize hunger screening, which means patients get less access to nutritional support.
For policymakers, the report offered accountability. Researchers use this reliable, transparent measure to know whether programs like SNAP, WIC and free school meals are meeting their goals. Without it, the impact of program changes on families will be difficult to determine.
Most important of all, families benefit. Data may sound technical, but it reflects what we care about as a society. What we measure, we can acknowledge and improve. A national measure ensures that struggling families are seen, their needs are understood, and programs can be tailored to best support them.
The state of Minnesota, in partnership with the University of Minnesota and Second Harvest Heartland, do a laudable job in monitoring aspects of hunger in our state. These efforts are invaluable for capturing local nuances, but they cannot replace a consistent, federally supported benchmark. National data allow us to track trends over time and make meaningful comparisons between states — a big-picture perspective that ensures all families are counted and considered. Without a federal standard, such comparisons are impossible and decisions about measurement risk being driven by local politics rather than evidence-based priorities.
Related: Student food insecurity is a big problem on Twin Cities campuses
What we should do
- Advocate for the USDA survey. Call your elected representatives and urge them to restore the annual food insecurity survey. It must remain credible, publicly available and reflect the experiences of families facing hunger so we can track trends, evaluate programs and ensure no family’s struggles go unseen.
- Strengthen Minnesota’s monitoring. Update local surveys and dashboards regularly, use standardized measures, make data publicly accessible and expand coverage to include all families. Stronger state-level monitoring helps policymakers, community organizations and researchers respond quickly to emerging needs.
- Protect nutrition programs. SNAP serves 175,000 children in Minnesota, yet proposed cuts and added requirements risk reducing support for families who rely on it. Advocate for continued funding and support for SNAP, WIC, universal free school breakfast and lunch and other programs so every child and family has access to the food they need.
Measuring and monitoring hunger is essential. Food insecurity is not inevitable — it is solvable. But without robust, consistent data, we cannot know where the need is greatest, track whether programs or policies are working or hold ourselves accountable for addressing it.
Families facing hunger deserve better. Our communities deserve better. We must keep counting — and act to ensure every child and family has enough to eat.
Katie A. Loth, Ph.D., is associate professor and vice chair for faculty affairs in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
The post Shutting down food insecurity report only hides hunger appeared first on MinnPost.
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