A crash course in changing the world.
According to the US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA-ERS) (http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-secur...) approximately 85.1 percent of US households were food secure in 2011. However, 14.9 percent of households did not have access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members, and 5.7 percent were considered “very low food secure.
The most significantly affected group seems to be children. According to the USDA-ERS data, 8.6 million children lived in food-insecure households in which children, along with adults, were food insecure. Households with a single, female head-of-household, and black and hispanic households were the most food insecure.
The state I live in, South Carolina, falls within the “average” among U.S. states. Data from the local Lowcountry Food Bank (http://www.lowcountryfoodbank.org/hope) show that during 2010, roughly 18.8 percent of households (or 870,420 individuals) were food insecure. In my neighborhood, the city of Charleston, 16 percent of the population is considered food insecure.
The number of households that may not have ready access to enough food to sustain an active, healthy life is likely to increase this year, as world food prices are expected to hit an historic high. This past summer, the United States suffered the worst drought in 25 years; thus, the impacts on the crop and livestock sectors are expected to put further upward pressure on retail food prices. This expected price increase will happen against the backdrop of relatively high unemployment (8.1 percent) rates across the country. Also, many of the long-term unemployed are likely to “fall off” state and federal government support programs, like unemployment insurance.
© 2024 Created by Alchemy. Powered by
You need to be a member of Urgent Evoke to add comments!
Join Urgent Evoke