In September 2025, the USDA, helmed by Secretary Brooke Rollins, announced they would be cancelling all future food security reports.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reported Arkansas as the most food-insecure state in the nation for the third year in a row.
Each of the annual reports combined data from interviews conducted over the course of three years to find an average food insecurity level statewide.
Here’s a rundown of Arkansas’ average food insecurity level reported by the USDA, as well as the national average.
Arkansas: 16.6%National: 12.8%
Arkansas: 18.9%National: 13.5%
Arkansas: 19.4%National: 13.7%
In a statement released on Sept. 20, 2025, the USDA, helmed by Secretary Brooke Rollins, announced the cancellation of all future food security reports.
The statement refers to the reports as “redundant, costly, politicized, and extraneous studies that do nothing more than fear monger.”
Kent Eikenberry with the NWA Food Bank in Lowell says that despite the report ending, food insecurity remains a prevalent issue in Arkansas.
“The USDA report was just one of many ways that we know that there are people out there who need help,” said Eikenberry, who says the issue has multiple stages, and the main reason people experience food insecurity is due to the rising cost of living.
“The cost of living has escalated across the state, especially in Northwest Arkansas, significantly faster than somebody’s earning opportunities have,” Eikenberry explained.
Additionally, Eikenberry says not everyone who needs help receives it.
“I’ve seen the look on people’s faces when they walk in there, and they have a look of despair because they’re embarrassed. I’ve seen my friends come through a food pantry where I was volunteering, almost with tears in their eyes that they, first off, had to go ask for help, and then secondly, saw somebody they knew,” Eikenberry said. “It’s very, very private.”
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