By Ali Ghiorse and Karen Saggese
In June of 2025 we co-authored A plea to our Senators to safeguard SNAP urging lawmakers to protect the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as federal reconciliation debates threatened eligibility rules and state funding. That proposal was signed into law as H.R. 1 (the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”) on July 4, 2025. The legislation imposed stricter work requirements, shortened benefit durations, shifted administrative costs onto state budgets, and cut federal aid from our local economies, directly impacting local grocery stores and farm stands.
SNAP is the nation’s most effective food security safety-net and is therefore invaluable to the health and well-being of society, including state economies.
Since the implementation of H.R. 1, we have heard repeatedly from leaders at Connecticut food banks and pantries that the charitable food system is stretched thin and cannot shoulder unprecedented hunger alone. This sentiment comes amid additional cuts to proven federal programs that not only work, but actively transform a fraught system, such as the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA, or Farm to Pantry) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFSP, or Farm to School).
Food Insecurity in Connecticut
Connecticut holds the highest rate of food insecurity in New England, at an estimated 16%. Additionally, 40% of Connecticut households fall into the ALICE category (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed). These are working families who earn above the federal poverty limit, yet consistently lack sufficient income to afford basic necessities like fresh food. Standard SNAP income caps (typically 130% of the federal poverty level, expanded to 200% in certain states) fail to capture the millions living paycheck-to-paycheck in this demographic. When policy ignores ALICE families, hunger grows exponentially.
Food and farming systems do not exist in a vacuum. While structural, geographic, and transportation obstacles prevent low-income households from accessing nutrient-dense foods, there are other contributing factors such as geopolitical instability, tariffs, climate disruptions, and extreme corporate consolidation that allow major food conglomerates to keep grocery prices artificially high. All of these converging pressures make the cuts to SNAP not only immoral, but a major driver of the food insecurity crisis.
In short, three primary policy-influenced decisions are inflicting hunger on our communities: persistent barriers to access, soaring food prices, and deep SNAP cuts.
The Farm Bill
The Farm Bill is one of the most consequential pieces of federal legislation in our nation. It determines how the federal government supports everything from agricultural subsidies, crop insurance, farm loans, conservation programs, to local and regional food systems. The Farm Bill is designed to encourage compromise between the needs of farmers and the need for affordable food. Its largest component, Title IV, oversees Nutrition and SNAP.
Earlier this month, the Farm Bill was voted out of the Senate Agriculture Committee and is expected to be brought to the Senate floor in the coming weeks before returning to the House. The debate between legislators falls along party lines over the future of federal nutrition funding and who should bear its cost. Federal food assistance isn’t just a relief program; it directly drives economic activity for local farms and vendors. Lawmakers must not balance the federal budget at the expense of thriving communities. The Senate’s current impasse on the Farm Bill gives us an opportunity to choose a better path. Achieving lasting food security requires two simultaneous actions: safeguarding federal nutrition benefits and investing heavily in localizing food and agricultural infrastructure. As the National Young Farmers Coalition points out, “For our farmers, these 4.7 million people forced off of the program represent a massive loss of purchasing power in the very communities they serve. When families are “kicked out” of SNAP, they lose the ability to shop at farmers’ markets and farm stands, effectively shutting down local market channels that young farmers rely on to remain viable. A Farm Bill that does not restore these nutrition investments fails to reinforce the foundation of our agricultural system, leaving both vulnerable families and the next generation of farmers at risk.”
Power in Local Systems and Trusted Partnerships
Connecticut is home to 5,000 mostly small, diversified farms powering a $4 billion agricultural sector. Strengthening farm viability directly strengthens community food access. We must commit catalytic public and private investment in farmland preservation and local and regional supply chains, such as food hubs, while expanding farm-to-institution initiatives, supporting diverse farmers, increasing farmland access, and doubling SNAP incentives at local markets. Building a just food system requires community-rooted partnerships capable of system-wide thinking. No single entity can resolve food insecurity in isolation.
We call on our community to champion access to fresh, local food as a fundamental human right, and to demand our Senators pass a Farm Bill that reverses the damaging SNAP cuts under H.R. 1. Take Action here.
Ali Ghiorse, Executive Director, The Foodshed Network and Karen Saggese, Site Director, Food Rescue US – Fairfield County (Co-leaders, Greenwich Foodshed Alliance)