Texas has the second highest food insecurity rate in the country, and Austin’s numbers aren’t much better: 158,270 residents of Travis Countyi.e. 16 percent, are affected by food insecurityThe inability to afford food is a symptom of larger deficiencies in the social safety net – the Central Texas Food Bank Reports that “tTwo-thirds of the people we serve say they have had to choose between buying food and paying for their housing in the past year. Eighty percent say they have had to choose between food and medicine.” In addition, less than one percent of the food consumed in Austin and Travis County is produced locally, and over 1000,000 pounds of food is wasted every day.

The local causes of food insecurity are diverse – Farmers struggle to find affordable land nearby as Austin becomes more urbanized, and they often have to contend with powerful competitors like Elon Musk’s Boring Co.

Natural disasters such as increasing winter storms and droughts as well as Covid have placed additional strain on supply chains.

To address this crisis head-on, Travis County is in the final stages of adopting a regional food plan that will go into effect in 2022. The joint project between the county and the city’s Office of Sustainability is expected to be approved at the Tuesday, Aug. 27 meeting and will go before the City Council soon after. In a county meeting on Aug. 20, county, city and community representatives from the agricultural sector briefed the Commissioners Court on strategies to address food insecurity in the region.

““A good food system is an interconnected network like a spider web,” Edwin Marty, the city’s food policy manager, told commissioners. “Austin has traditionally relied on San Antonio, Houston and Dallas to essentially be the hubs that make sure we have all the food we need. But if I-35 gets shut down, we face significant challenges.”

The food plan includes nine broad goals to strengthen the food system in Austin-Travis County, from preserving agricultural lands and supporting food workers to reducing food waste and addressing the climate impacts of the food system. One of the biggest problems — and the only one that may receive funding in this year’s budget — is unequal access to food across the county. All of the city’s local produce amenities, such as farmers markets, farm-to-table restaurants, and community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs, are concentrated in downtown Austin, turning poorer areas of eastern Travis County into food deserts.

“As of 2022, 18 of 47 zip code areas in Travis County will be without a grocery store,” the Drafting a nutrition plan Notes.

While some of this is beyond the control of local governments (and HEBs), the federal government certainly can’t solve these problems alone: ​​Many people in Travis County who are food insecure struggle to access benefits from the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). According to the Food Plan, as of 2022, there are 687 places that accept SNAP, but roughly 39 percent of income-eligible Travis County residents were not enrolled.

And although food insecurity is greater in eastern and northwest Travis County than in the rest of the region, “there are a smaller number of SNAP-eligible retail stores relative to the concentration of households receiving SNAP benefits there.” One strategy of the nutrition plan, therefore, is to examine the feasibility of creating a locally funded nutrition incentive program with less restrictive eligibility criteria than SNAP/WIC.

Some strategies to address food insecurity are tied to other county goals, such as improving access to reliable transportation to bridge the gap between food deserts and markets. Others are more specific, such as improving infant feeding options such as milk and formula through government-school collaboration and funding the expansion of food delivery services that prioritize serving food-insecure households.

The only part of the nutrition plan tied to fiscal year 2025 appropriations would be such investments in social services to improve more equitable access to food. Commissioners are likely to pass a resolution supporting the plan next week, and clearer action should follow in September.

Commissioner Brigid Shea asked staff to identify the most important recommendations the county could implement quickly, and stressed that they should figure out where the funding will come from. Federal pandemic relief funds have largely been used up for these types of social programs. Staff assured Shea that the upcoming farm bill should provide the county with more federal funding for this type of work. (The House version of the bill introduced in the spring, however, would 30 billion US dollars of SNAP, WIC and other similar programs over the next decade.)

Fortunately, the nutrition plan also includes maintaining and expanding partnerships with local businesses and organizations that already provide such services.

“We have good documentation of who is already working on what the community thinks is important,” Marty said. “We’ve set the table.”

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