Media Coverage

Despite the large pot of money, not every organization’s requests were filled. Advocates requested more than $300 money to support affordable housing in the state, but just around $25 million went toward the issue. The Ohio Association of Foodbanks requested $183 million to aid its food assistance programs, but only received $40 million.

This week, host Mike Kallmeyer looks at the drop in Thanksgiving meal prices and talks with a turkey farmer about how the meal’s centerpiece gets to your table. He also speaks with the Ohio Association of Foodbanks about what people can do to give back this year.

Area families have not bounced back from the end to pandemic-era benefits, and the high cost of food is driving more families to engage with local pantries — some for the first time in their lives.

Foodbank Inc. — which serves Montgomery, Greene and Preble Counties — served 374,983 households over the past year. More than 50,000 of these were entirely new clients.

“We saw a notable increase of new families, especially after pandemic-era support ended,” said Amber Wright, the foodbank’s marketing lead.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will spend $1.7 billion nationwide to support farmers, offer nutrition assistance and boost rural economies.

That includes $1.2 billion for food banks, schools, child care centers and more to buy from local farmers and growers.

The Farm Bill is normally one of the main funders of programs that provide food assistance. But the federal bill has been tied up in political debates. Because of this, Joree Novotny, executive director of the Ohio Association of Food Banks, said farmers and organizations that provide food assistance have faced their own struggles.

"We've been in a state of sort of continued uncertainty with programs that either are permanently authorized through the federal Farm Bill or that have been launched in response to ongoing food supply chain challenges and other pandemic era impacts on people facing food insecurity, as well as the farmers and grocers and food banks that feed them," she said.

According to Novotny, this round of USDA funding has two components that will directly benefit food systems in Ohio.

ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB/Report for America) — Every month, Jody Dearth’s EBT card gets loaded up with the bare minimum of supplementary income to help cover the cost of groceries. This fiscal year, that’s $23.

“I’ve had people say, ‘Why do you even do the paperwork for it?’” Dearth said. “It’s milk and bread.”

That much money — less than a single night out at many restaurants — may seem negligible to some, but Dearth, a part-time service worker at O’Bleness Memorial Hospital, said it can make the difference between whether she has to skip meals that month or not.

“Because you have to pay your electric, your water. Insurance, definitely. You have to. You cannot let that stuff go,” she said.

Continued delays of the U.S. Farm Bill, which expired last month, could have serious consequences for Ohio farmers and food banks.

We’ll talk about how the delays are impacting the farming and food-insecure populations.

Guests:

• Ty Higgins, Sr., Director, Communications & Media Relations, Ohio Farm Bureau
• Joree Novotny, Executive Director, Ohio Association of Food Banks
• John Lowrey, Assistant Professor of Supply Chain and Health Sciences, Northeastern University