The complexities of food insecurity

Last month, I attended the Anti-Hunger Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. Among the many inspiring conversations about the state of food insecurity amidst the policy changes of the past year, one session in particular has stayed with me. It focused on cross-sector food security strategies and action planning efforts, highlighting the New Jersey Food Security Strategic Plan and the City of Philadelphia Food & Nutrition Security Task Force. 

The timing couldn’t have been better. At North Valley Food Bank (NVFB), we are preparing to enter our own strategic planning process at a moment when food insecurity continues to rise, and increasing housing costs, unstable federal benefits, and the growing gap between wages and living expenses have led many neighbors, including working parents, older adults, and essential workers, to rely on our local food pantries for the first time. 

If we want to respond thoughtfully in the coming years, our work must be grounded in collaboration and in accurate data about what our neighbors are actually experiencing. 

That data piece feels especially urgent after the USDA ended its annual Hunger Report last fall. For decades, anti-hunger organizations across the country relied on that report as one of the primary ways to measure food insecurity. But the report mostly measured one dimension of hunger: whether households could afford enough food. 

Researchers and practitioners in New Jersey began challenging that framework, arguing that food security is about much more than income alone. During the conference session, they shared the Six Dimensions of Food Security framework that shaped their statewide strategic plan. I have found myself returning to it repeatedly because it reflects something many of us already know intuitively through our everyday work: food insecurity is deeply complex and shaped by far more than whether food is simply available. 

While we know that affordability matters and see every day how many neighbors are forced to choose between groceries, rent, utilities, medications, or gas, we also know that our communities face realities discussed far less often. 

In our rural communities, for example, healthy food may not physically exist nearby. Some neighbors may not have reliable transportation to reach a grocery store or pantry. Others may not have a working kitchen, refrigeration, cookware, or stable housing to safely prepare food. Seasonal work, fluctuating hours, inflation, and interruptions to benefits can make food security unstable month to month. And many people simply do not have meaningful access to foods that reflect their culture, health needs, or preferences. 

The six dimensions of food security attempt to capture this fuller picture:  

Access -- whether people can afford food. 

Availability -- whether healthy and culturally appropriate food is physically available nearby. 

Utilization -- whether people have the equipment, time, storage, transportation, or skills to prepare their food. 

Stability -- whether access remains reliable through disruptions like seasonal work, inflation, disasters, or benefit interruptions. 

Agency -- whether people have meaningful choice and voice in the food system. 

Sustainability -- whether the food system itself can continue functioning for future generations. 

As we think about NVFB’s future, grounding our strategic plan in this broader understanding feels especially important. This framework pushes organizations like ours to move beyond measuring only pounds of food distributed and toward understanding the broader lived realities shaping hunger in northwest Montana. 

It also asks important questions about dignity and participation. Do neighbors using food assistance programs have meaningful choice in the food they receive? Are they helping shape the systems designed to support them? 

Another powerful idea from the conference session was that food security work must bring together many sectors: agriculture, healthcare, schools, housing, transportation, philanthropy, local government, and people with lived experience. The session closed with a reminder that food insecurity work often suffers not from a lack of good ideas, but from fragmented leadership and disconnected systems. 

If we want to move beyond an emergency food response model and toward long-term food security, we must begin seeing food as civic infrastructure, because food is essential to the health, resilience, and future of our communities. This framework will help broaden our imaginations for solutions as well. It invites all of us to not only ask, “How do we distribute more food?” but also, “What conditions within our food system actually allow people and communities to thrive?” 

Sophie Albert is the executive director of North Valley Food Bank.