Hungry for Food Security Data and Analysis: Losing Public Information Weakens our Right to Food

October 7, 2025

By Joanne Burke and Janet Poppendieck

Source: www.ksat.com

On September 20, 2025, the USDA announced the termination of  the annual Economic Research Service (ERS) Household Food Security Report, and placed the staff members responsible for this yearly analysis of data collected by the Census Bureau on administrative leave. This action should be of concern to all members of the National Right to Food Community of Practice, and we invite you to lend your voices to efforts to reverse this troubling decision (see Take Action ideas below). The termination of the Household Food Security Report obscures our ability to follow and know how many people will be negatively affected by the dramatic cuts to SNAP and other entitlements that passed through U.S. Congress this summer. This annual extensive analysis has served state, regional and national elected officials and community advocates from both sides of the aisle for 30 years.

Gathering and reporting public information about our food system is an essential part of realizing the right to food. Just as we need information about nutritional quality and production processes to make informed decisions about what to eat, we need data about food security to make good decisions about public policy and private action. As Jenique Jones, the Executive Director of WhyHunger put it, “Transparent, accurate data is not a luxury—it’s a necessity. Without it, we cannot track the scale of suffering, we cannot measure the effectiveness of aid programs, and we cannot hold decision-makers accountable.” Governments have a critical role to play in developing and maintaining robust data collection and reporting processes - annual reports like the Household Food Security Report are critical sources of information that should be used to guide public spending and ensure our government’s actions are delivering on their promises to all of us. 

For thirty years, the annual reports have provided clear, accessible data on household food security in our nation. They have analyzed the collected data by race, ethnicity, gender, age, income, household composition, areas of residence (in principal cities, in suburbs, and in rural areas), and by census geographic regions. In short, they have revealed the disproportionate  prevalence of hunger and food insecurity among women, children, single parent households, Black and Latinx households, rural households, households in central cities, households in the South, and, of course, low income households. This is data that researchers use in evaluating programs, that administrators use to target action such as outreach programs, and that advocates use to explain the urgency of food insecurity to their communities and mobilize for better public policy. 

Overview data for states and the District of Columbia are included in each annual report. Advocates within the states have been able to rely on these numbers, and thus have the ability to compare their own states with others, to motivate governors and state legislators to take actions to address food insecurity. For example, state food security data has helped advocates in nine states to win statewide universal free school meals.

 At the national level, the Household Food Security Report is the data that we use to document our nation’s failure or progress to fulfilling the right to food, documentation that is essential to hold our leaders accountable. For example, we learned that during the Covid-19 pandemic, government relief helped mitigate food insecurity caused by losses of income and an increase in food prices. These measures were so successful that the household food insecurity rate dropped in 2021 to 10.2%. Households with children and those eligible for SNAP were the main beneficiaries of increased tax credits, social programs, and food assistance during this time. But when Congress allowed these social supports to expire in 2022, food insecurity rose significantly. Having uninterrupted data collection allows us to track the impacts of these policies. According to Crystal Fitzsimons, President of the Food Research and Action Center, “Ending data collection will not end hunger, it will only make it a hidden crisis that is easier to ignore and more difficult to address….Eliminating data collection strips away the evidence that proves these programs work, where investment is needed, and who is being left out.”  The report's capture of hunger trends over time, demonstrates that food insecurity has hovered around 11% of the population for the past two decades until 2023 when it spiked to 13.5%.

Without counting and measuring food security indicators and risk factors, it will be far more difficult to hold the Trump Administration accountable for its inhumane approach to those at risk for food insecurity. It is estimated that implementation of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” legislation (H.R.1) will eliminate or substantially reduce SNAP benefits for 4 million low-income Americans. Additionally, food tariffs and unmitigated climate change impacts are resulting in higher food costs, and thus contributing to higher food insecurity rates. The reduction in food assistance and rising food costs will translate into higher rates of food insecurity, and we know from previous reporting that this will disproportionately affect women and children, and Black and Latinx communities. Rather than track that impact and report on the outcomes of their funding cuts, the Administration has decided to hide it. 

From climate change, labor statistics, vaccine policy, and poverty data, the proposed USDA cancellation follows a concerning pattern of dismantling critical assessment tools and expertise. Without ongoing data collection and assessment, the capacity to develop and evaluate policies and programs that benefit all Americans and the planet on which we live will be thwarted. 

But the USDA announcement is distressing not only because of data loss we rely on,  but because of the many gross distortions of reality embedded in the post: 

“USDA Terminates Redundant Food Insecurity Survey” Press Release # 0219.25

(Washington, D.C., September 20, 2025) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the termination of future Household Food Security Reports. These redundant, costly, politicized, and extraneous studies do nothing more than fear monger. For 30 years, this study—initially created by the Clinton administration as a means to support the increase of SNAP eligibility and benefit allotments—failed to present anything more than subjective, liberal fodder. Trends in the prevalence of food insecurity have remained virtually unchanged, regardless of an over 87% increase in SNAP spending between 2019 - 2023. USDA will continue to prioritize statutory requirements and where necessary, use the bevy of more timely and accurate data sets available to it.

Unlike the website’s portrayal of the report as “redundant,” “politicized,” “fear mongering,” and full of “liberal fodder,” this extensive annual report has never been a partisan document. It has been thoroughly vetted and carefully validated. Although USDA asserts there are other sources of data, this extensive analysis will not be easily replaced. By thwarting our access to information, this administration undermines our efforts to realize the right to food. 

Take Action: 

Share your expertise and experience to help others understand the consequences of terminating this annual report. 

• Contact your Senators and Representatives in Congress to help them better understand the impacts of this “termination.” Tell them how you use this data. Demand that they request the USDA to publish these reports, in their entirety, in 2025 and beyond. 

• Don’t have time to write an individual letter? Use the Food Research & Action Center FRAC Action Network Quick Link to contact your representatives.

• Use Media: Contact local radio, TV stations and newspapers. 

• Use your social network platforms.

• Use this blog post to help spread the word as we advocate for a continuation of the annual Household Food Security report to support efforts to realize the right to food.