Hunger in America’s Farmland Communities

America’s farmers are exceptional at what they grow and produce. Sometimes, it seems like it is to their detriment as they deal with a lack of foreign markets to prop up prices that farmers need to make acceptable profits with their bountiful harvests. Put simply: American consumers can’t buy all that American farmers produce.

But a new report demonstrates a lack of available food in many smaller communities, despite farmers’ efforts. The joint investigation by Investigate Midwest, The Beacon, Capital B, Enlace Latino NC, The Jefferson County Beacon, KOSU, Louisville Public Media, The Maine Monitor, and MinnPost revealed statistics that may shock people in large urban areas but likely won’t surprise families in rural communities across the United States.

Rural America Lacks Enough Food

The investigation showed how common it is for families – despite their proximity to farmers – to lack sufficient, consistent access to food. Sometimes, the farmers themselves are included in this group considered food insecure.

Thanks in part to increased federal support for food assistance after COVID-19’s arrival, the national food insecurity rate dropped slightly in the past decade overall, according to the investigation. However, the counties that the investigation considered “farming-dependent” have experienced an 11.7% increase in food insecurity over that period.

Pending cuts to federal assistance programs, farm-to-school feeding programs, and reductions to health insurance coverage through Medicaid could all further strain people’s economic and nutritional well-being in smaller communities.

RELATED: The economic strain or lack of interest from relatives could be reasons why some farmers decide to sell. That reinforces the need to have a farm succession plan. This small farmer has ideas on how to get relatives to open up about making a farm succession plan.

Drawing Attention to Rural Life

Natalie Kovarik traded life as a pharmacist where a variety of restaurants, shops, and other amenities were plentiful to instead living in a town of 2,200 residents in the Nebraska Sandhills where entertainment options were limited in her community.

But her smaller community provides the lifestyle pace that she and her husband want for their three sons and growing cattle ranch.

“Rural life really is conducive to me, and how I want to spend my time, and how I want to raise my family,” Kovarik told American Farmland Owner.

She shares the opportunities and struggles of rural life in the “Discover Ag” podcast that she co-hosts with Tara Vander Dussen, a fifth-generation dairy farmer in New Mexico.

And while she appreciates the values, pace, and self-sustaining work ethic that she experiences in rural Nebraska, Kovarik has also recognized the economic struggles that many have in rural America.

Kovarik believes that social media sparked curiosity for some people in how smaller communities operate. “The movement right now for people to have interest in food and farming and ranching and country…and homesteading and kind of dabbling in that lifestyle.”

But part of that newfound interest in rural life means also sharing the economic forces that seem to be working against many families in those communities. “If you look at the data and the numbers, you are seeing consolidation, you are seeing some of the smaller farms going out of business, and the larger ones getting larger,” Kovarik laid out.

“I think it's a really interesting time. I don't quite know what it actually means. Looking forward…consolidation is like a hard beast, I think, to stop once it gets rolling. It's like, how do you stop it?” she wondered.

Will those consolidations further shrink job opportunities for people in rural America? And will that increase the need for food assistance for those who can’t make enough money to support their families, including farm families who struggle with low commodity prices and higher input and borrowing costs?

Kovarik admits that she doesn’t have all the answers. That is why she welcomes conversations from people across the country through her podcast. Her hope is that the increased attention from people outside the farm community can somehow lead to solutions to help those still trying to make a living in agriculture.

“But I do think we have piqued people, not just the two percent (farmers) to look into this and fight this and want to a certain version of food and farming and ranching to exist,” she said, “But most of the population right now is very interested…I think it'll be a wild 2025, 2026, like I think we have some big years coming up ahead that could drastically change the future of agriculture…and what that looks like.”

RELATED: Natalie Kovarik explains why moving to rural Nebraska made sense for her family and how she and her husband are building their direct-to-consumer beef business.