Record Spending on Food and More People Facing Hunger

**New data from USDA’s Economic Research Service shows consumer spending on food reached a record in 2022.

Real, or inflation-adjusted, annual food spending in the

U.S. increased steadily from 1997 to 2022, except in 2008 and 9 during the Great Recession and in 2020 during the pandemic.

Total food spending increased 70% from 1997 to 2022.

During that time, food at home spending increased at a slower rate, 53%, than for food away from home at 89%.

**Over 122 million more people around the world are facing hunger since 2019 due to COVID-19 and repeated weather shocks and conflicts like the war in Ukraine.

That’s according to the latest “State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” report published by the United Nations.

Several agencies within the U.N. says if the trends remain as they are, the Sustainable Development Goal of ending hunger by 2030 won’t be reached.

**Cattle industry leaders praised the introduction of a bipartisan congressional resolution recognizing the importance of commodity checkoff programs, including the Beef Checkoff.

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Todd Wilkinson says he knows how important the program is to the industry’s success, saying I’m grateful for the resolution and the fact lawmakers are standing with cattle producers to recognize the importance of checkoff programs.