Federal data shows food insecurity falling significantly in Maine over the last decade, but local groups caution it doesn't paint a complete picture.
According to the USDA, between 2021 and 2023, 11% of Maine households were food insecure.
That's a nearly 30% improvement from the same data collected between 2011 and 2013.
Jada Wensman, with Good Shepherd Food Bank, said those numbers broadly align with changing economic conditions: In 2011, the country was still emerging from the Great Recession. Ten years later, households were buoyed by COVID relief funding.
"We saw a lot of government support during the pandemic, including increased SNAP benefits, including, you know, checks that folks received that allowed them to save a little bit more," she said.
This year, though, Wensman said food insecurity is on the rise again, driven in part by high grocery prices.
"Even though inflation is down," she said, "those costs haven't gone down."
