For 33 years the U.S. Department of Agriculture has promoted “SNAP-ED,” a food education program for low income participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), but this comes to a halt in coming weeks. SNAP has been America’s largest food assistance program, but President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” cut $186 billion from SNAP over the next 10 years, and an estimated 7.4 million people will lose all or part of their benefits. The bill also cut $1 billion from school lunch programs and funding for food banks. Another $500 million eliminated was money that encouraged food banks to provide U.S.-produced fresh meat, vegetables, dairy products, and eggs—often the healthiest foods found at these facilities. The cuts began as food insecurity in America reached its highest rate in over a decade, with over 47 million people facing hunger, including 14 million children who are food insecure (about 20%). In some rural counties, childhood hunger is 50%, according to Feeding America. We should note that these figures are all from 2025, because the Trump budget even eliminated the program that monitors food insecurity, which was especially helpful in pinpointing areas of greatest need.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act shifted many of these responsibilities onto the states, but this has been one of the worst budget cycles in years for states which are already dealing with several issues out of their control, such as tariff wars, soaring inflation, and the $1 trillion in federal cuts to Medicare over 10 years, through which an estimated 10 million Americans will lose all health coverage.
In the state of New York, 2.2 million benefitted from the SNAP-ED programs in food education and also the SNAP-ED Food Box program, which targeted children from low-income families, the disabled, and seniors. SNAP-ED often worked in partnership with schools, healthcare organizations, farmer’s markets, retailers, and other community organizations. New York has lost $29 million annually for SNAP-ED, and the recent state budget negotiations make no mention of possible replacement funding. After attending a SNAP-ED nutrition workshop, a 10-year-old girl told CityLimits, “I didn’t like lettuce before I took the class, now I love it.”
