Food security continues to be a growing problem across the nation, and some South Dakota counties have drastic numbers of residents who aren’t sure where their next meal is coming from. The 2015 Map the Meal Gap Study, which analyzed each state by county, found that 12.4% of people in South Dakota are food insecure. Kerri DeGraff, Development Director with Feeding South Dakota, says the study even determined that children make up a large portion of that percentage.
DeGraff says the study found that while there are food insecure people in all 66 counties in South Dakota, there are several that have particularly high rates of residents who don’t have access to enough food.
She says that several of these counties include the state’s reservations, where extreme poverty leaves many children without enough food.
The study found that the average meal in South Dakota costs $2.79, and the food budget shortfall, or how much would be needed to provide sufficient diets to those food insecure adults and children, is over $50 million dollars.
