Rural grocers fear cuts in food stamp program

Much of the talk about a new Farm Bill has centered on the food stamp budget, now $80 billion a year and about 80 percent of the bill's cost. The House has proposed cutting $4 billion a year and changing eligibility and requirements, while the Senate has proposed a $1 billion cut. In addition to food stamp recipients, cuts would hurt rural grocery store owners, Mike Moen reports for NPR. They have already seen the effect of the "food stamp cliff," which saw benefits cut $36 a month for a family of four because an increase in the 2009 economic stimulus package expired.

John Anderson, "an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, says it's too early to forecast how much of a pinch food retailers might feel in the coming days. But he says there is real concern out there," Moen writes. Anderson told Moen, "In many rural areas around the country, we do have, proportionately, maybe higher participation in the SNAP program. And a lot of that gets spent locally, obviously, because that's where it can be spent, in those local grocery stores."

Craig Schultz, who manages Countryside Market in the 25,000-population town of Belvidere, Ill., where the unemployment rate is 11.5 percent, told Moen he expects store sales to drop 5 to 10 percent. The store has responded to the cliff" by cutting prices. And with Thanksgiving right around the corner, managers are worried they might sell fewer turkeys. "Hopefully not," Moen said, "because I have a whole freezer full of 'em." (Read more)