The spokesperson for the Food Bank of Iowa says the annual Feeding America survey isn’t very positive for the state. Annette Hacker says there are people in all 99 counties who don’t have enough food to meet their needs.
“It shows that food insecurity only continues to grow across our state, 385,000 Iowans face food insecurity, and 120,000 or more are children,” Hacker says. Hacker says there are a variety of reasons the problem isn’t getting better. “A reduction in poverty relief programs, a reduction in SNAP benefits, is one reason. Rising prices, wages that haven’t kept up,” Hacker says. “Any number of things can affect a person’s ability to be able to keep food on the table.”
The ten counties with the highest percentages of residents who don’t get enough to eat are: Appanoose (16.9%), Wapello County (I5.2%) Cass County (14.7%), Crawford County (14.6%0, Clarke County (14.2%), Des Moines County (14.2%), Lee County (14.2%), Clayton County (14.1%), Decatur County (14.1%) and
Lucas County (14%).
Hacker says most of them are rural counties. “Many people think that food insecurity only affects urban areas, and when you look at the Iowa counties facing the state’s, highest levels of food insecurity, the top ten counties are largely rural, and Food Bank of Iowa serves seven of those counties,” she says. Hacker says the increase puts more pressure on food banks to try and fill the gap. “You know we can’t continue doing more with less. Our communities need help. And the only way you know when there’s a the federal cuts that we’ve seen lately to the U.S.D.A., the only way to make up that shortfall is to buy more food. And the only way we can buy more food is through the help of generous donors,” Hacker says.
The study is based on 2023 data. You can see the full results at feedingamerica.org.