Tag Archives: food insecurity

Food Insecurity Continues to Grow

Missouri trends mirror the national picture; MU scientist offers policy suggestions to fight hunger issues

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The 2013 Missouri Hunger Atlas, issued by the University of Missouri’s Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security, shows that more than one in five Missouri households with children are food insecure, meaning they worry about not having enough food. One author of the Hunger Atlas said that patterns in Missouri reflect what is happening at the national level, and offers suggestions for actions from government policy makers and individuals to provide some relief.

“The percentage of Missouri’s population that is food insecure has grown from an average of 8.6 percent during the 1999-2001 period to 16 percent during the 2009-2011 period,” said Sandy Rikoon, the director of the MU Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security and co-author of the Hunger Atlas. “Many of our findings – including deeper food insecurity rates in inner cities and rural areas, and greater lack of participation in food programs in some highly populated regions near urban centers – are comparable to national trends. We also found an increase in the number of households that experience hunger in the form of reduced meal portions, skipped meals and other reductions.” (more…)

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After the Storm, Haiti’s Food Situation Looks Bleak

ANN ARBOR — The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which ripped through southern Haiti in October, will extend beyond destruction and injury. The current and future food security looks bleak barring significant intervention during the next year, according to a University of Michigan report.

Rain-triggered mudslides throughout the country from the hurricane has not only washed out homes, but also roadways and bridges—bringing transportation to a near standstill, says Athena Kolbe, the report’s lead author and a U-M doctoral candidate in social work and political science. The natural disaster compounded Haiti’s long struggles to transport enough produce from the countryside to village markets and major urban centers. (more…)

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One in Four Missouri Families Worries about Food for their Children

COLUMBIA, Mo. ­— As the recession continues, economic casualties continue to mount. Daily, the media report that banks continue to foreclose on home loans and people are still losing their jobs.  

Missing from the headlines, however, is the growing number of people that are having more difficulty feeding themselves and their children. According to the 2010 Missouri Hunger Atlas, which was released by a University of Missouri research team, one in four Missouri families with children living at home worries about putting enough food on the table.

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