How SNAP Transformed Our Food System
policy can be innovation too
With the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) demonized and on the chopping block, now is a good time to look back at how this once temporary program changed the U.S. food system. Spoiler Alert: It turns out our food banks, churches, and charities cannot feed 40 million people on their own.
The first U.S. food-assistance program was launched in 1939, aptly called the Food Stamp Program (FSP). Recipients of FSP bought orange stamps for $1 and, in addition, received surplus-food blue stamps worth $0.5. At the time, there was a surplus of unmarketable food concurrent with high unemployment. By 1943, those unique conditions no longer existed, so the FSP was terminated.
Between 1943 and 1964, legislative proposals and pilot programs tested the nation’s appetite for a resumed and permanent food assistance program. And finally, in 1964, Congress passed the Food Stamp Act, which formalized the FSP and set regulations around federal food assistance. The primary reasons for passing the Act were to strengthen the agricultural economy and improve nutrition among low-income households.
Throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, food assistance expanded across the U.S. and its territories, with eligibility and regulations updated accordingly. By 2008, federal food assistance had over 28 million recipients. Then, the program’s name changed. The federal government chose the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to reduce the stigma associated with receiving food assistance. As a finishing touch, Congress passed the 2008 Farm Bill, allocating $10 billion to SNAP over 10 years.
By 2013, participation in SNAP peaked to 47.6 million people -- roughly 15 percent of the U.S. population. That number dropped as the economy became stable, but by 2025, over 40 million Americans still rely on SNAP. Then, our Congress passed the Big Beautiful Bill, tightening eligibility and shifting administrative costs to states already operating on thin margins.
Innovation is not just about lab-grown foods and automated farming. Programs like SNAP were an innovative solution to real inequality. Over the years, SNAP has been refined and scaled, just like any other technology that aims to change our food system. Suddenly eliminating the program will not force Americans to “pick themselves up by their bootstraps,” but instead set us back as a country that is increasingly underinvesting in its people.
As a friendly reminder, our food banks, churches, and charities cannot feed 40 million people on their own.
The full history of U.S. food assistance programs can be found here.
And, while nonprofits cannot fill the need by themselves, if you are able to help consider donating here.