The Food and Nutrition Assistance Landscape: Fiscal Year 2021 Annual Report

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers 15 domestic food and nutrition assistance programs that together affect the lives of millions of people and account for roughly two-thirds of USDA’s annual budget. In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, USDA launched additional temporary programs and implemented numerous policy changes that expanded the scope and coverage of existing programs. Together, these initiatives contributed to higher spending on food and nutrition assistance programs in fiscal year (FY) 2021 (October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021), which amounted to a historical high of $182.5 billion. This report uses preliminary data from USDA, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and USDA, Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to examine program trends and policy changes in USDA’s largest U.S. food and nutrition assistance programs through FY 2021