East Central Iowa News

In 2019, the Iowa Food Assistance Program decreased to $1,807,272 allocated in Hardin County, according to Hardin County Guide analysis of data from the Iowa Department of Human Services.

This equates to a 36.9 percent decrease in funds allocated over eight years.

As part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's larger Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, qualified Iowans receive financial assistance in the form of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards that can be used to buy groceries.

Since 2011, $21,535,936 has been allocated for Hardin County as part of the Iowa Food Assistance Program.

The following table shows the 25 Iowa counties that saw the most change in money allocated through the program from 2011 to 2019:

County	$$ Allocated (2011)	$$ Allocated (2019)	Difference	Percent change
Louisa	$2,225,346	$1,112,896	$1,112,450	-50%
Decatur	$2,335,800	$1,173,519	$1,162,281	-49.8%
Howard	$1,423,077	$714,660	$708,417	-49.8%
Mahaska	$5,854,849	$3,080,456	$2,774,393	-47.4%
Hamilton	$2,432,713	$1,289,111	$1,143,602	-47%
Lucas	$2,167,773	$1,176,653	$991,120	-45.7%
Story	$10,802,970	$6,019,486	$4,783,484	-44.3%
Clarke	$2,426,224	$1,367,634	$1,058,590	-43.6%
Chickasaw	$1,436,986	$815,106	$621,880	-43.3%
Boone	$4,154,500	$2,388,082	$1,766,418	-42.5%
Cedar	$2,158,595	$1,247,899	$910,696	-42.2%
Allamakee	$2,390,630	$1,393,630	$997,000	-41.7%
Washington	$3,469,613	$2,063,820	$1,405,793	-40.5%
Marshall	$9,752,363	$5,812,353	$3,940,010	-40.4%
Clayton	$1,897,651	$1,137,326	$760,325	-40.1%
Poweshiek	$2,573,252	$1,545,421	$1,027,831	-39.9%
Buena Vista	$3,491,710	$2,121,088	$1,370,622	-39.3%
Van Buren	$1,347,269	$818,424	$528,845	-39.3%
Adair	$1,153,006	$703,718	$449,288	-39%
Cerro Gordo	$9,287,060	$5,692,771	$3,594,289	-38.7%
Wayne	$1,237,051	$761,726	$475,325	-38.4%
Davis	$1,143,206	$704,853	$438,353	-38.3%
Jefferson	$3,933,430	$2,429,497	$1,503,933	-38.2%
Hancock	$1,345,030	$840,916	$504,114	-37.5%
Lyon	$849,524	$530,990	$318,534	-37.5%

Source: Iowa Department of Human Services