Congress can help families put food on the table with 2023 farm bill

Imagine making the impossible choice between paying rent and purchasing groceries to keep your fridge and pantry shelves full. That is the kind of difficult choice thousands of people in Southeast Missouri must make every day.

In the world's richest country, 38 million people face hunger, including 12 million children, impacting their ability to stay healthy and thrive. In Southeast Missouri, one in six individuals -- coworkers, neighbors, the classmates of our children -- live in homes where they may not know where their next meal will come from.

At a food distribution in Cape Girardeau County earlier this summer, one of the food bank's staff members spoke to a woman receiving help for the first time. She and her husband, a veteran, are both retired and have been able to get by comfortably until this year. She shared a story of going to a grocery store and being shocked by the price of the lunch meat she regularly bought. She had to tell the cashier, "I'm sorry, I can't afford this."

Hard choices by families trying to make ends meet are only getting tougher as grocery prices skyrocket.

Across the nation, families are forced to stretch already-strained budgets to pay for groceries that are 10% more expensive this year. In Missouri, the cost of food has risen 11.9%, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. To stay afloat, many households are turning to Southeast Missouri Food Bank.

As a part of the Feeding America network of 200 food banks, Southeast Missouri Food Bank distributes food to more than 70,000 individuals across 16 counties to ensure people facing hunger have food on the table -- but we are not immune from rising food prices. Every aspect of food banking is seeing significant spikes. For example, we are paying three times more for food purchases this year. Transportation costs are up nearly 20%. At the same time, food donations are dwindling, pandemic-era government supports are expiring and we're serving nearly 10,000 more people a month than before the pandemic.

As our nation faces a perfect storm of conditions threatening to worsen hunger in the U.S., it's clear that food banks cannot end hunger alone. Our only way forward is for lawmakers to act alongside us, including through the 2023 Farm Bill.

The Farm Bill is a piece of legislation that provides a pathway to strengthen critical federal food programs and ensure that no individual in the U.S. has to forgo a meal. Right now, lawmakers are deciding the future of hunger as they work on the 2023 Farm Bill.

One of the programs within the Farm Bill is The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). TEFAP moves high-quality U.S.-grown food, such as fruits, vegetables and dairy products, from farms to food banks to families in need. Investments in TEFAP through the Farm Bill are vital to supporting U.S. growers and producers, ensuring food banks can meet staggering need, and feeding families everywhere.

Millions of households are struggling to afford enough to eat. Southeast Missouri Food Bank is already doing everything possible to ensure every family in Southeast Missouri has food on their table. Still, we need the support of Rep. Jason Smith and Senators Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley and other lawmakers in Congress to help keep up with demand. The upcoming Farm Bill provides an opportunity for legislators to strengthen the food programs critical to ensuring that no one goes hungry in the U.S.

Joey Keys is the chief executive officer of the Southeast Missouri Food Bank.