2007 Maine Marks
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Why This is Important

Not having enough food that is nutritious and can offer a balanced diet has both short and long term negative consequences for individuals, families and their children. Certainly the negative effect of poor nutrition is well understood, however for some in Maine there is a great deal of worry and stress to just try to provide enough food. The level of food insecurity that exists in our communities is an indicator of how well we are meeting basic needs.

Where We Stand

This year’s (2007) food insecurity data differ from previous years in that the current presentation reflects results from US Department of Agriculture nation-wide surveys, which tend to be presented in three-year averages.  (Previous years’ Maine Marks food insecurity data were based on Maine-based surveying administered by Critical Insights of Portland.) For instance, data from the years, 1996-1998, 2000-2002, and 2003-2005 can be compared at the state level, providing a comparative view of how Maine “measures up” alongside the rest of the states. The trend data spanning from 1996-2005 also provides a telling view of Maine’s comparative progress in addressing the problem of food insecurity. Trend data demonstrate that food insecurity rates in Maine for the three-year period 2003-2005 were higher than for the preceding three-year average. Maine’s food insecurity rate of 12.3% represented a statistically significant change from 9.0% in 2000-2002.  This 3.3% increase in Maine’s measure of food insecurity represents the largest comparative state-level increase during the period. In other words, Maine’s level of food insecurity rose more than any other state in the nation during the period 2000- 2005.

Data Source and Context

Data presented are derived from reporting at the US Department of Agriculture:
Household Food Security in the United States, 2005 / ERR-29;Economic Research Service(ERS)/USDA; prepared by ERS based on the Current Population Survey (CPS) food security surveys for the years 1995-2005. The CPS includes about 55,000 households and is representative, at State and national levels, of the civilian, non-institutionalized population of the United States. About 47,500 households completed the food security section of the survey in December 2005. These reports can be accessed at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err29/.