Consumers and businesses alike are feeling cautiously optimistic about the coming year.

But unemployment remains very high at 10%. And, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently released an alarming report about food insecurity in the United States. Between 2007 and 2008, the number of U.S. households that had “inadequate or unsure access to enough food for active, healthy living” rose from 13 million to more than 17 million. An even more shocking statistic — the USDA classified 21% of U.S. families with children as food insecure in 2008. One in five is quite a lot.

Data from 2009 is not yet available, and last year’s food price declines may have eased some of the pain. Still, this deep, prolonged recession undoubtedly took the biggest toll on the poor and the middle class. Retailers in cities hit hard by high unemployment or the housing bust have surely noticed the soaring usage of food stamps — now officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

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