The U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) shared in a press release on Sept. 20 it would be canceling the Household Food Security Report, a survey the country has funded for more than 30 years.
The survey tracks food insecurity across the nation, with its findings released annually. The data collected has previously been used to evaluate the funding needed for federal aid programs including SNAP, which was recently restructured by President Trump to have expanded work requirements. This action will cut an estimated 2.4 million Americans from federal food aid, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
In the press release shared by the USDA, they called the survey “redundant, costly [and] politicized,” continuing by saying “[these] extraneous studies do nothing more than fear monger.”
However, food insecurity surveys led SUNY Brockport to open “The Pantry” in Dailey Hall in 2023. The Pantry offers students, faculty and Brockport residents’ food, paper products, diapers, and menstrual products. It’s a campus wide resource for those in need.
Ashley Breth, the assistant director of Wellbeing on the SUNY Brockport campus oversees The Pantry. Breth acknowledges the challenges that the cancellation of the Household Food Security Report may pose to students.
“I hear you, I see you,” said Breth, “I think that it’s really easy to feel the fear, and that’s okay. I hope that folks feel validated…but the fact is the pantry is here. It’s available, it’s open five days out of the week, and it is here to support you and the greater campus community. So while it’s easy to hear a lot of the noise that’s out there, I think it’s in those moments, it’s important to look at, what is fact? The fact is that the pantry is here.”
If aid to food security programs is cut nationally, The Pantry’s doors will still be open.
“The aid that we get is directly from SUNY,” said Breth, “I went to the Basic Needs Summit in Albany last week, and Chancellor King was talking about [how] this is one of his specific initiatives, and he has a very personal connection. He shared his story about his own food insecurity as a child and kind of growing up and really wanted to change that. So he and those around him have really made it a priority to make sure that within SUNY’s budget, this will be prioritized for this funding cycle and moving forward.”
The Pantry is open to the Brockport community Monday through Friday, with hours listed on their website.
