HURON, SD – US Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that emergency benefit increases have reached $2 Billion per month for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 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.
“It’s the reason the program exists. The government is there for those who are hit with hard times through no choice of their own,” he observed. “This is very good news. It will be a lot of help to a lot of people and that’s what the whole SNAP program is about.”
He says the harvest box program that works with private industry partnering with the government on SNAP will help those less fortunate.
“They’re also working on releasing the food through the harvest box program. That’s another good service that’s out there and a way to get some of this surplus out there to the people. I hope we continue to work to get these kinds of things distributed as soon as possible,” said Sombke.
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 the cities.
“It’s a step in the right direction. Especially in the rural communities,” he notes. “We talk about the urban areas a lot but there are rural people who need this just as much.”
The $2 billion per month increase is in addition to approximately $4.5 billion in benefits already provided to SNAP households each month.
