Yolo County, a California breadbasket, is among most food-insecure areas
Food insecurity hits nearly one in three Yolo County households
Food insecurity hits nearly one in three Yolo County households
Food insecurity hits nearly one in three Yolo County households
Despite the abundance of agriculture, food insecurity is hitting nearly one in three households in Yolo County.
The Yolo County Food Access Survey Report found that 29.2% of households countywide are food insecure, surpassing state and national averages. The California Association of Food Banks reports that the household food insecurity rate in the state is 22%.
Roughly a year since the end of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency, officials don't expect the need to go down as inflation continues.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that inflation increased 3.5% from March 2023 to March 2024.
"We're still seeing a pretty steady increase across all of our programs countywide," said Yasmin Fausto with the Yolo Food Bank.
Survey Findings
- 52.9% of households in Yolo County working in the agricultural industry are food insecure.
- 40% of Yolo County households with children are facing food insecurity.
- 35.4% of residents living in unincorporated areas of Yolo County and the City of Winters combined reported the highest levels of food insecurity.
The self-reported survey also found that seniors are among the most vulnerable populations.
On Wednesday, over 300 households received food assistance at the food bank's two food distribution locations.
"They give us meats. It's always different but it's also kind of a surprise at the same time. And most of the items we can use," two Winters residents told KCRA. They shared that they're both on fixed monthly incomes, making it much more difficult to keep up with rising costs.
At Woodland Community College, Vanessa Villalaz Uribe and two friends were lucky with this food distribution site.
"It will benefit my mom so she doesn't spend a lot of her own money because she doesn't really have good [high paying] work, so this will help my family to get more food options," Villalaz Uribe told KCRA.
The survey was done in collaboration with the Yolo Food Security Coalition and the Institute of Social Research at Sacramento State University.
ISR helped collect data and send survey invitations to every household in Yolo County.
Over half of the households surveyed reported resorting to food distributions to help feed their families.