2019 Missouri Hunger Atlas Shows Food Security Remains a Critical Issue
The latest edition of the Missouri Hunger Atlas, published by the Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security, reports the number of Missourians facing food insecurity has dropped to pre-Great Recessions levels. It is estimated that 865,000 Missourians are food insecure, a decline from three years ago when the issue affected 1 million Missourians. Still, access to…
Taking Stock of Missouri Food Pantries
Taking Stock, a series of regional reports published by Grow Well Missouri and the Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security, provides analysis and discussion to better understand the ways in which the management and operations of food pantries can be enhanced. Based on a survey of 204 food pantry directors, the reports highlight some of the…
MU to Host ‘Universities Fighting World Hunger Summit’
The 2016 Universities Fighting World Hunger Summit will take place on Feb 26 and 27 at the University of Missouri in Columbia. The theme this year is "From Poverty to Promise." The summit will bring students, faculty, and professionals together to explore solutions to hunger at home and abroad. It will feature interactive sessions, renowned…
Healthy Shelves Hits the Shelves
A new publication by the Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security, Healthy Shelves: Promoting and enhancing good nutrition in food pantries, was released in January 2015. This 24 page booklet offers tips and strategies for linking food pantries and community partners to get healthier food onto the shelves of pantries and into the homes of food…
Food Bank Conference Brings Allies Together
Looking for ways to engage food banks and anti-hunger allies in a meaningful dialogue about long-term solutions to hunger, the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona hosted the inaugural Closing the Hunger Gap conference in Tucson in 2013. Sessions featured innovative organizations that incorporate nutrition education, community organizing, policy, economic development, and local food production…
New Missouri Hunger Atlas Raises Awareness of Extent, Depth of Hunger in Missouri
The Missouri Hunger Atlas 2013, recently released by the Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security, provides a county-by-county assessment of the extent of food insecurity in the state. The Atlas also measures the work of a host of public and private programs intended to help people struggling with hunger. First issued in 2008, the Missouri Hunger…
Food Assistance and the Farm Bill Debate
Amidst the current Farm Bill debate, University of Arkansas Law professor Susan Schneider offers a reasoned assessment of who benefits from federal nutrition programs, the efficiency in which the programs are implemented, and the economic impact of spending food stamp dollars in local communities. The article is featured in the Agricultural Law Blog, the official…
USDA Report: Disability a Risk Factor for Food Insecurity
A recent issue of Amber Waves, from the USDA Economic Research Service, reports on a new study showing that disability is one of the strongest factors affecting a household's food security status. The report states that in 2009-2010 "one-third of households with a working-age adult who was unable to work due to disability were food…
Summer Field Research Begins
The start of summer 2013 marks the third year in which Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security faculty and staff have gone to the field to hear the voices of people using food pantries in central and northeast Missouri. This large research project will gather data from approximately 1200 food pantry clients in 32 counties through…
Can $4 a day provide a nutritious diet?
That is the question posed by the Health Communication Research Center, a partner of the Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security, as their staff embarked on the Food Stamp Challenge in March. Limiting food expenditures to $28 dollars per week (the average SNAP benefit for a person in Missouri), they set out to learn about the…