Novel data set combines public and private food assistance measures

Determining whether food insecurity is a temporary event or a long-term condition for families is difficult given a lack of comprehensive food assistance information. 

Researchers at the Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station in New York constructed a novel data set that matched Food Bank client use records from a six-county region with similar data of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) clients in the same region. The result was the first and largest data set combining public and private food assistance data. 

From that data, they developed the Probability of Food Security measure. This measure estimates the probability that a household’s food expenditures equal or exceed the minimal cost of a healthy diet, based on USDA Thrifty Food Plan costs. 

The researchers were able to generate much longer time-frame measures of household food insecurity and better distinguish likely food insecure subpopulations. For instance, they were able to see that more than half of food insecure households were able to regain food security within two years.

View the full statement on the NIDB.

Project supported by Hatch funds.