food insecurity

Nearly one in five people in Morgan County in eastern Ohio is food insecure, even though the area is surrounded by farmland. New money from the state hopes to address that problem.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture and OSU Extension are distributing free seeds to 64 Ohio counties. The Victory Gardens Program aims to help Ohioans grow their own produce.

Mahoning Food Access Initiative hopes to increase Youngstown residents’ access to fresh, healthy foods by teaching them how to grow it themselves. It hopes it will give people more power over what goes on their plate.

Southeastern Ohio has some of the highest rates of hunger in the state. But some folks in Perry County have found a way to help, one pig at a time.

An increasing number of Ohio farmers markets are accepting SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps. It’s an effort to increase access to fresh, locally grown produce.

Anti-hunger advocates say the loss of pandemic-era benefits, combined with higher food prices, makes the so-called “benefits cliff” even more precarious than usual.

Families like the Tanners in Mount Vernon are seeking other ways to supplement their food budgets since pandemic-era SNAP benefits went away in March.

The federal funds released by the Ohio Controlling Board will be used by the state's food banks to buy dairy products, eggs and chicken — the prices of which have been soaring.

Ohio's food banks have asked for $50 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds, saying the situation is "severe."

The leader of a statewide food banks association says the need is up and donations are down as inflation shrinks food supply.