Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue this week announced that emergency benefit increases have reached $2 Billion per month for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. That’s a 40 percent increase in overall monthly SNAP benefits increasing the food purchasing power for American families during the COVID 19 pandemic. South Dakota Farmers Union President Doug Sombke says he’s pleased they’ve moved forward with that, rather than concentrating on tougher SNAP rules.
He says the harvest box program that works with private industry partnering with the government on SNAP is moving forward to help those less fortunate and that’s also positive.
Sombke says the timing of this increase couldn’t be better and it also shows the importance of SNAP being available in rural areas which are facing greater challenges than urban populations.
The $2 billion per month increase is in addition to approximately $4.5 billion in benefits already provided to SNAP households each month.
