The new Farm bill – So what does the nutrition title of the Farm Bill mean for Minnesota?

Over 27 million Americans, including over 264,000 Minnesotans, receive Food Stamps. The average Food Stamp recipient is a single working mother with two children and an average weekly benefit of only $37. Over half of all Food Stamp participants are children.

Food Stamp spending also strengthens Minnesota’s economy. In 2006, the USDA estimated that Food Stamp spending pumped $520 million into the local economy. In fact, Food Stamp spending is one of the surest ways to stimulate the economy. Moody’s Economy estimates that every $1 increase in Food Stamp spending generates $1.73 in increased economic activity.

We also know that increases in the number of food stamp recipients are the single best early warning signal of increases in poverty.

Minnesota has the 11th largest increase in food support caseload in the US.

For more information about the critical role that Food Stamps play in fighting hunger in Minnesota, CLICK HERE

The Nutrition Improvement Highlights

including $7.8 billion for Food Stamp improvements and $1.2 billion more for commodity purchases by food banks under the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).

Congress approved more than $10.3 billion in nutrition funding increases over 10 years for food stamps, commodity distributions, and other programs in the Farm Bill to improve benefit levels and increase program accessibility. Major changes made in the Food Stamp Program through the Farm Bill include:

*Increasing and indexing for inflation the standard deduction, which has been stuck at $134 a month for many households for more than a decade;

*Increasing and including an inflation adjustment for the $10 minimum monthly benefit, which has been unchanged for over 30 years, raising it to $14 next year;

*Eliminating the cap on the dependent care deduction to help poor working families obtain necessary child care;

*Promoting savings by exempting education and retirement accounts from asset limits;

*Indexing asset limits, unchanged since 1986 and currently set at $2,000 for most households and $3,000 for households with elderly or disabled members, for inflation; and

*Changing the program name from food stamps to the “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” or SNAP.

The Farm Bill also provides help to emergency feeding organizations by increasing funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). Major actions taken in regard to TEFAP in the Farm Bill include:

*An immediate infusion of $50 million more for food in the current fiscal year – 2008;

*Increasing mandatory funding for entitlement food purchases from $140 million to $250 million annually, beginning in fiscal year 2009;

*provision of $250 million each year for food purchases indexed annually for food price inflation through fiscal year 2012;

*increasing the annual authorization level for TEFAP storage and distribution funding from $60 million to $100 million, though these funds are discretionary and must be sought annually through the appropriations process;

*Creation of a $10 million a year program of Infrastructure and Transportation Grants to Support Rural Food Bank Delivery of Healthy Perishable Foods from fiscal year 2008 to 2012.

Since 1996, the Farm Bill has been the vehicle for the establishment and growth of the Community Food Projects program to improve food security in low-income communities. The 2008 Farm Bill maintained the program unchanged at $5 million per year with mandatory funding to guarantee program continuity. In related subject areas, the Farm Bill also:

*Creates a Healthy Urban Food Enterprise Development Center to improve food access in underserved communities and funded at $1 million in each of fiscal years 2009 through 2011, with a $2 million authorization for fiscal year 2012;

*Allows schools to specify a geographic preference for the procurement of unprocessed agricultural products that are locally grown and raised;

*Aids rural businesses with financing for local food enterprises; and

*Provides $500,000 for a one-year study of “food deserts.”

Several sections of the Farm Bill support expansion of farmers’ market programs in various ways by:

*Increasing annual mandatory funding for the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program from $15 million to $20.6 million;

*Providing $33 million over five years to increase the scope of the Farmers’ Market Promotion Program; and

*designating 10 percent of annual Farmers’ Market Promotion Program funding for the support of electronic benefits transfer (EBT) projects at farmers’ markets.

A new program authorized under the Farm Bill will take a 14-state pilot program that provides snacks of free fresh fruits and vegetables to children in schools to the national level, with programs in every state and the District of Columbia. By 2012, the effort will be funded at $150 million per year – nearly eight times its current size.

The 2008 Farm Bill makes a number of changes in other programs, too. The Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), which President Bush has proposed to eliminate, is continued and reauthorized through fiscal year 2012, with elderly persons getting equal status with women and children for access to the program. Under the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), the U.S. Department of Agriculture is directed to conduct a survey of participants on their preference for traditional foods and also to report to Congress on the FDPIR food package. Finally, the bill authorizes continuation of the Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellows Program and the Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellows Program through the Congressional Hunger Center. The two programs are currently funded at around $2.5 million annually.

Download FOOD STAMP PROVISIONS OF THE FINAL 2008 FARM BILL

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