Limited Incomes Limit Healthy Choices

Kate Bradford, MT Food Bank Network

January 10, 2008

There is a lot of talk about food these days. People are becoming more aware—and concerned about where their food comes from. More and more consumers are making buying choices based on whether food is organic, healthy, supports the local economy and reduces environmental impacts of transporting food thousands of miles… These are all things to consider, but what if this fresh, healthy, local food is not affordable? There are good reasons why this food costs more, but for many Montanans paying more for healthier food is not an option.

Did you know that around 310,000 Montanans are considered at risk for food insecurity and hunger? That’s right –30% of our state’s population are at or below 185% of the poverty line; which is a family of four making less than $38,000 a year. Families that fall into this category are considered at risk of food insecurity—not having consistent access to adequate nutritious food—by the USDA and often have difficult choices to make. Do they spend their limited dollars on housing, gasoline, child care, medical expenses or food? In a recent statewide survey of emergency food pantry clients, over half indicated having to make such a decision. Clients also indicated a good understanding of healthy eating, yet most were frustrated with the need to compromise family nutrition in order to stretch food dollars.

The Food Security Council of the Montana Food Bank Network pursues efforts to understand the nature and extent of hunger in Montana. There has been a consistent rise in the demand for emergency food among Montana Food Bank Network’s 190 member agencies in all parts of the state. In 1999 those agencies had about 363,000 total client visits. In 2006 this number jumped to over 705,000.

Client surveys indicate that over 40% of emergency food clients skip meals regularly. Low wages and fixed incomes were the primary reasons why clients ran out of money for food. Heating, health care costs, unemployment and public assistance benefits running out before the end of the month were additional reasons.

Hunger and income are strongly tied. Although Montana has a very low unemployment rate—around 3 percent—we rank 49 th in the nation for low average wages and our per capita income ranks 42 nd in the country. Additionally, Montana ranks 11 th in the country for the number of people working multiple jobs. A significant portion of our population suffers not from unemployment, but from underemployment. And often, neither education nor employment is enough to raise Montanans out of poverty. Almost half of the clients surveyed had at least one person in the household employed; and a significant portion of households without employment were elderly or disabled.

A recent report by Dr. Larry Brown at the Harvard School of Public Health cautiously calculated the total economic cost burden of hunger in the United States. Factors included in this analysis include the costs of charity that is required to help families get through another day; the costs of impaired educational outcomes that scientific research has linked to children not getting enough to eat; and the bill for the mental and physical illnesses that are linked to inadequate nutrition. The analysis calculates the total cost burden to be at a minimum of $90 billion annually. National experts calculate that federal policymakers could end hunger as a serious national problem by strengthening existing federal nutrition programs by about $12 billion over current spending levels. This means that virtually ending hunger would be far less costly than the price of letting so many people in our country suffer this preventable fate.

Currently, public food assistance programs reach thousands of people in Montana and provide critical support for those the programs reach. However, many who are eligible are not enrolled for a variety of reasons, including lack of awareness, fear of the application process, and confusion about benefits. Additionally, some programs simply do not have enough funding to serve all of those eligible.

The Montana Food Bank Network has, and will continue to play an essential role in the research, advocacy and outreach that are making federal nutrition programs much more broadly available to people in need.

Families need living wages, good benefits, and public program supports that together give them basic security, allow them to lead decent lives and give their children meaningful opportunities. Only when families obtain a level of basic security—and when organic local food becomes more affordable—will limited income Montanans be able to make the choice to purchase organic, local foods.

For more information please visit montanafoodbanknetwork.org or call us at 406-721-3825.

I’m Kate Bradford, Public Policy Director of the Montana Food Bank Network, speaking for the Alternative Energy Resource Organization. AERO welcomes your comments and perspectives. AERO is a grassroots membership organization working to help create farm, food, and energy solutions for communities throughout Montana. For more information about programs call AERO in Helena at 406-443-7272.