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County's 'food insecurity' rate higher than state, national averages
Nov 30, 2008 (Yakima Herald-Republic - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
In Yakima County, one of the nation's most agriculturally productive regions, 16 percent of residents struggle to put food on the table on a regular basis, according to a new report.
"That's high," said Linda Stone of the Children's Alliance in Spokane, which published the report based on surveys by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the state Department of Health.
Across the state, the rate of "food insecurity" is 10 percent. The national rate is 11 percent.
The term food insecurity is used by the government to describe households that are financially stretched to the point where they can't be sure that someone won't go hungry.
"It's not hunger but it tracks closely with hunger," Stone said.
Households are surveyed by telephone and asked a series of questions about food, meals and money.
Other Washington counties with high rates of food insecurity are Adams, 20 percent; Pacific, 19 percent; Asotin, 18 percent; Klickitat, 17 percent; Okanogan, 15 percent; Franklin, 15 percent; and Skagit, 15 percent.
Latino households in the state are nearly four times as likely to be food insecure as white families, the survey found.
While the state's rate of food insecurity has been compiled for some time, this is the first time county breakdowns were available.
"Results indicate significantly higher rates of food insecurity in rural counties, particularly those with large farm worker populations and communities dependent on resource-based industries such as timber and fisheries," concluded the Children's Alliance report, Hungry in Washington.
The surveys were conducted by telephone last year, before the economy began to slide and unemployment started to creep up. Stone expects the rates are even higher now.
--Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.
To see more of the Yakima Herald-Republic or to subscribe to the newspaper, go
to http://www.yakima-herald.com/. Copyright (c) 2008, Yakima Herald-Republic,
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