Sept. 25, 2025 The Midwest Center For Investigative Reporting
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Despite feeding the world, farming communities are going hungry
It's a stark paradox: the communities that feed the world increasingly struggle to feed themselves.
Our latest story examines the concerning trend of rising food insecurity rates in farming communities.
While the national food insecurity rate has dropped slightly over the last decade, farming-dependent counties have seen an 11.7% increase.
And hunger officials say the problem could get worse as Congress recently cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
“SNAP benefits a lot of communities, but it’s been great for farmers, it’s good for local communities and it creates an access point for everyone, not just SNAP users,” said Chris Bernard, executive director of Hunger Free Oklahoma, a nonprofit that advocates for solutions to food insecurity.
Federal SNAP funds totalled nearly $100 billion last year and served more than 41 million people each month. On average, farmers receive 24.3 cents per SNAP dollar, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
This story, part of a reporting collaboration with Rural News Network, also features an interactive map illustrating the shift in food insecurity rates across all 444 farming-dependent counties.
— Ben Felder, editor in chief
Thank you to everyone who joined our panel last week!
If you missed last week's live panel, the full video is now up on our YouTube channel. Be sure to also check out senior reporter Sky Chadde’s coverage of the panel, which dives deeper into how Trump’s immigration raids could reshape America’s food system.
We’ll keep these conversations going and hope you’ll join us for the next one!
Farm profits forecast to rise but federal aid remains a big safety net
By Lauren Cross, Investigate Midwest
The latest forecast from the U.S. Department of Agriculture says net farm income will reach $179.8 billion in 2025, up 40% from last year.
On the surface, that sounds like a big rebound. In reality, most of that increase comes from federal disaster payments, not from stronger crop or livestock markets.
ICYMI: The people who feed America are going hungry
By Arurella Horn-Muller, Grist
Last year, Grist reported how climate change and poverty are leaving farmworkers (the very people harvesting our food) without enough to eat. This week’s feature by Ben Felder shows the same crisis unfolding in farming-dependent counties, where hunger is climbing fast.
OPINION: The 'Product of USA' labeling fight isn't over
By Dave Dickey, Columnist
Congressional repeal of mandatory country of origin labels created a loophole that allowed meatpacking companies to slap Product of USA labels on meat imported from foreign countries.
What?
Yup. That Product of USA steak you're eating right now … well, the cow might have been raised and slaughtered in Mexico. Or Canada. Or who knows where. But not here.
News from our trusted media partners
FOIA reveals EPA leaders frequent meetings with lobbyists — by Brian Bienkowski, The New Lede
Investigate Midwest is an independent, nonprofit newsroom. Our mission is to serve the public as a watchdog over influential agricultural corporations and institutions through in-depth and data-driven investigative journalism.
