Iowa Farmers Union President Happy With USDA SNAP Program Increase

From Radio Iowa- The U-S-D-A is updating its Thrifty Food Plan which is used to calculate benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. The average SNAP benefit will increase more than 20-percent for Fiscal Year 2022, a move being applauded by Iowa Farmers Union President Aaron Lehman

[mksnap1] :17 “really troubling”

(As Said) “It’s distressing that we have food insecurity problems in rural America where so much of our healthy ground and wonderful farming techniques have led to such abundance,” Lehman says. “So having food insecurity in areas where we do have such abundance is really troubling.”

Lehman says part of the need for the increase in SNAP benefits comes from COVID-19.

(As Said) “The pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities and the inequities in our food system and it’s important that our programs that we’ve developed over years at USDA respond to those situations,” Lehman says. “This is a really good way to use our USDA hunger prevention programs.”

Lehman says SNAP is a safety net for many thousands of Iowa families.

(As above) “This is a huge benefit to our rural areas,” Lehman says. “We need to take care of our folks in our rural areas who do so much for us. This is really the right action to take.”

The USDA conducted the review of the Thrifty Food Plan following President Biden’s executive order that was issued in January.