Media Coverage

The Ohio Food Program and Ohio Agricultural Clearance Program help ensure surplus or blemished produce from local farms are distributed to local food pantries.

Anti-hunger groups said the state-level initiatives are especially critical as more families struggle with higher grocery bills. They are also considering ongoing changes to SNAP benefits and regulations, including the introduction of federal work requirements in February.

Sarah Kuhns, external affairs manager for the Ohio Association of Food Banks, said Ohio is making an effort to eliminate agricultural waste and move fresh produce through pantries quickly.

The federal SUN Bucks, or Summer EBT program, provides a one-time $120 benefit to families to purchase food during the summer months.

Experts said it is vital in filling the gap for thousands of families across Ohio. The money can be used at grocery stores, farmers markets and authorized retailers selling food.

Maura O’Connor, a working mom, nursing student and mother of three in Springfield, said SUN Bucks help fuel her son for summer sports games and practices. She explained feeding her kids has become more challenging with the rising cost of household essentials.

"I've had to cut back hours at work to align with my nursing school schedule," O'Connor explained. "I've definitely felt a very big struggle trying to provide groceries for myself and my three children."

Ohio will become only the second state to issue electronic benefits cards to SNAP or food stamp recipients with computer chips in them, after Gov. Mike DeWine signed a law requiring that this week. And it’s something advocates for low-income Ohioans have long pushed for.

Senate Bill 315, known as the Enhanced Cybersecurity for SNAP Act, passed unanimously in the Senate and eight Democrats and two Republicans in the House voting against it.

SNAP cards have been susceptible to skimming devices installed at food retailers by criminals trying to steal benefits, said Ohio Association of Food Banks Executive Director Joree Novotny. She said Ohio's cards are more than a decade behind other payment technology.

"They're magnetic strip cards, and they're very susceptible to fraud unfortunately," Novotny said. "So we've had tens of thousands of Ohio households that have been victimized by criminal fraudsters and had their benefits stolen because those cards aren't secure."

She said not only are Ohio's cards not as secure as those with chips, there's no way to recover benefits after they are stolen.

One year ago, the Republican “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” made the largest cuts to food stamps in the history of the program. Now 100,000 Ohioans are going without help and the state is bracing for enormous new costs without federal help.

The Trump/Republican spending law made the largest cuts ever to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which is largely used by children, older adults, and those with disabilities.

The cuts to SNAP have impacted millions of in-need Americans.

Deer season is popular as a sport, a resource for protein and an attempt to control a wildlife population that can be damaging to crops in Ohio fields.

Finding a place for all the venison harvested to go is another challenge, one that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife worked to ease through last year’s Deer Donation pilot program.

“Many hunters don’t meet their tag allotment because processing one deer is usually enough for their needs,” said Jonathan Sorg with ODNR Division of Wildlife. “Hunters are conservationists and often don’t have a use for more, and processing and donating the meat can be cost-prohibitive.”

The Deer Donation program encourages hunters to “responsibly harvest additional antlerless deer to help maintain healthy deer populations and reduce numbers in areas where deer may exceed the land’s capacity,” said Kassie Mitchell, District One manager at the ODNR Division of Wildlife.

Rep. Sean Brennan (D-14, Parma) wants to help bolster college graduation rates — improving the brain power of Ohioans — by addressing a most basic need: food insecurity.

Rep. Brennan and Rep. James Hoops (R-81, Napoleon) introduced HB 157, the Hunger-Free Campus Act, in 2025. It’s one of many well-thought-out pieces of legislation that still might not make it through the Ohio General Assembly in 2026.