The US government announced on Saturday that it would no longer evaluate food insecurity in the United States every year, judging this “too politicized” and “useless” measure.
“After carrying out a continuous examination of programs and economic reports, the United States Ministry of Agriculture (USDA) will end the publication of domestic food security reports,” the institution wrote in a statement transmitted to AFP.
A “too politicized” report
According to the USDA, this report “has politicized too much and, after the exam, is unnecessary to carry out the work of the Ministry.” The information was first revealed by the Wall Street Journal. “The 2024 report on the food security of the Home will be the last and will be published on October 22, 2025,” said the Ministry.
This will refer to the last year in the power of Democratic President Joe Biden. His republican successor, Donald Trump, found the White House for a second term in January.
According to a large survey, the report estimates the precariousness of food, that is, the number of homes that have no guaranteed access to food in sufficient quantity and quality for all its members.
13.5% of interested households
According to the most recent publication, this referred to 13.5% of households in 2023 in the United States, the greatest proportion since 2014.
The Ministry of Agriculture criticizes the methodology. “The questions used to collect data are completely subjective and do not give a faithful image of real food security,” he said on Saturday.
“The data are full of skewed inaccuracies to create a story that is not representative of what is really happening in the field, while we are currently experiencing a drop in poverty rates, an increase in salaries and the growth of employment under the Trump government,” adds the USDA.
In the United States, according to official data, growth has slowed in recent months and employment creations have dried. Donald Trump chooses to ignore these elements and recently returned to the manager of a statistical service.
The president says that his policies (tax credits, customs tariffs, deregulation, fight against immigration and priority for US workers) are paying fruit.
Source: BFM TV
