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On December 1, under provisions within the 2018 Farm Bill, new work requirements for the supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) went into effect for individuals aged 55 to 64. These requirements, implemented during the Trump administration, affect an estimated 40 million Americans who rely on SNAP benefits.
The new rules potentially disqualify individuals who cannot demonstrate employment or meet specific work search obligations. Together, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) discontinued its annual food insecurity survey in 2020, hindering the ability to accurately assess the impact of these policy changes on vulnerable populations, especially older adults.
Parke Wilde, a food economist at Tufts University, explained that the absence of the USDA survey creates a critical gap in understanding. “without this data, we lose the capacity to
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