On September 20, 2025, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) made a surprise announcement: it would terminate the Household Food Security Report, a yearly survey that for the past three decades has tracked how many Americans struggle to get enough food. The move, which caught anti-hunger advocates and policy experts off guard, comes at a time when food insecurity in the U.S. is on the rise and federal support programs are being scaled back.
The Household Food Security Report, first introduced during the Clinton administration, has long been a cornerstone in the fight against hunger. Each year, it provided detailed data on the prevalence of food insecurity, especially among low-income households. The report has been published consistently for 30 years, regardless of which party held the White House. According to the USDA’s own 2023 data, 47.4 million Americans—including about 14 million children—lived in food-insecure households. That number represented a significant jump from previous years, with food insecurity rising from 10.2% of households (13.5 million) in 2021 to 13.5% (18 million) in 2023.
Yet, in its Saturday statement, the USDA described the report as “redundant, costly, politicized, and extraneous,” and accused it of “fear mongering.” The agency argued that “trends in the prevalence of food insecurity have remained virtually unchanged,” despite, it said, an 87% increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) spending between 2019 and 2023. The USDA further claimed it would instead “prioritize statutory requirements and, where necessary, use the bevy of more timely and accurate data sets available.”
The decision to end the report is intertwined with broader changes in federal anti-hunger policy. This summer, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law, which expanded work requirements for SNAP. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that as a result, about 2.4 million Americans—many of them families with children—will lose their food stamp benefits. At the same time, federal funding cuts and freezes introduced this spring have reduced the amount of food available to food banks and schools, further straining the nation’s safety net.
Experts and advocates have been quick to push back against the USDA’s rationale. Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), told Beritaja, “The national food insecurity study is a critical, reliable data source that shows how many families in America struggle to put food on the table.” FitzSimons warned that without the annual report, “we are flying blind, and we don’t know the impact.” The data, she argued, is essential for both advocates and policymakers to understand the scale of hunger and to design effective interventions.
Barbara Laraia, professor and chair of the Food Nutrition and Population Health Program at the University of California, Berkeley, echoed this sentiment in an interview with The Washington Post. She noted that the report “has helped us measure how the federal food programs are working.” Laraia also disputed the USDA’s claim that the report is costly, pointing out that the hunger-related questions are simply included in the yearly census data collection. Indeed, the USDA itself has previously acknowledged the value of the report, writing in its 2024 edition, “Annual monitoring of food security contributes to the effective operation of Federal food and nutrition assistance programs, as well as private food assistance programs and other government initiatives aimed at reducing food insecurity.”
The USDA’s assertion that food insecurity trends have remained flat is also being called into question. According to FRAC, the 2023 report showed an increase in food insecurity, including a 3.2% rise in food-insecure children compared to 2022. Kyle Ross, a policy expert at the Center for American Progress, told Beritaja, “Last year’s report for 2023 showed an increase in food insecurity. At that point, it has been the largest rate of food insecurity that the country has seen since 2014 and substantially larger than just two years prior.” Ross also rejected the idea that the report was politicized, stating, “That has no basis in reality whatsoever.”
For many anti-hunger advocates, the timing of the USDA’s decision is especially troubling. Eric Mitchell, president of the Alliance to End Hunger, said in a statement quoted by CNN, “By cancelling the survey, USDA is sending a signal that tracking and battling hunger is no longer a priority. It is further troubling that the decision comes amid predictions that hunger may increase in the coming months and years. Hunger will not disappear simply because it is no longer tracked.”
Historically, the Household Food Security Report has been more than just a set of numbers; it has shaped the national conversation about hunger and informed the design of programs like SNAP and school meal initiatives. The report’s methodology, which involves supplementing the Census Bureau’s annual Current Population Survey with a targeted set of questions on food access, has been praised for its rigor and consistency. Over the years, the data has guided both Republican and Democratic administrations as they responded to economic downturns, natural disasters, and shifting demographics.
With the report’s termination, the USDA says it will rely on other data sources to fulfill its statutory obligations. However, critics argue that no other existing dataset offers the same level of detail or reliability when it comes to understanding food insecurity at the household level. The decision to end the report, say many experts, risks obscuring the true extent of hunger in America—especially as economic pressures mount and the safety net contracts.
As for what comes next, the USDA has announced it will release one final Household Food Security Report in October 2025, covering data from 2024. After that, the annual accounting of hunger in America, as it has existed for three decades, will come to an end.
In the words of one advocate, “Without that data, we are flying blind.” For millions of Americans facing empty pantries and uncertain futures, the decision to stop counting may feel like a final, silent verdict on their struggle.
