Food secure individuals have access at all times to nutritionally adequate food. The USDA defines a food secure household as “having access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members”.
Food insecurity is simply the opposite.
Food insecurity can be caused by any or all of the following:
- Not enough money or resources to purchase needed food.
- Inability to access the food. Do consumers have the ability to get to where nutritionally adequate food is sold?
- Availability. Is there enough available to purchase? Supply and transportation interruptions can quickly reduce the inventory on store shelves.
Locally, statewide and nationally the number of food insecure households is increasing. Tens of millions of American households were food insecure in 2010, with a disturbing upward trend during the last three months of the year. The last few years have seen persistently high rates of food insecurity in the United States (and globally). In fact these rates are the highest recorded levels since 1995, when the first national food security survey was conducted.
According to the Food Research and Action Center’s report Food Hardship in America 2010, the national average annual rate of food insecure households was 18% (percentages rounded for easier reading). Throughout California 20%, or one out of every five, households experienced food insecurity at least one time during 2010. Only 15 states had higher rates of food insecurity than California. Three of the hardest hit metropolitan areas in the nation are located in California: Fresno at 27%; Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario at 26%; and Bakersfield at 24%. Here locally the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura metropolitan area has a 20% food insecurity rate.
Luckily there are a host of actions individuals, families and communities can take to greatly improve their food security, including gardening. For additional resources please contact our office.
