Gov. Tim Walz announced $5.5 million in new funding for Minnesota food shelves on Wednesday following the end of a historic year for food insecurity in the state.

Funds will go toward food from Minnesota producers and processors, Second Harvest Heartland, the Food Group Minnesota and partnered hunger-relief organizations across the state, according to Walz’s office.

“No family should be faced with a decision to either put food on the table or pay the bills. That’s why Minnesota has taken major strides to eliminate hunger, from investments in universal school meals to millions in funding for food shelves and agriculture support,” Walz said in a statement. “With this funding, we’re relieving a strain on family pocketbooks and ensuring a stable supply of healthy food to meet Minnesotans’ needs.”

Minnesota food shelves reached an all-time high of 9 million visits in 2024, according to reports from the Minnesota Food Group in early December.

Sophia Lenarz-Coy, executive director of the Minnesota Food Group, said part of this increase in food shelf visits in Minnesota can be attributed to federal grants allocated during COVID-19 decreasing, especially for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, also known as food stamps.

Benefits decreased by an average of $82 per month in 2023 for 235,000 Minnesotans enrolled in SNAP, according to the Food Research and Action Center. National food prices increased by 5.8% in 2023 and are now 25% higher than they were prepandemic, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“We are so grateful for this investment from Governor Walz and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to provide quality and local foods to the emergency food system in Minnesota,” Lenarz-Coy said in the statement. “We will be prioritizing more than half of the funds to source from local producers to build up our local food system, and all the food will go to our network of over 200 food shelf partners. With food shelf visits in our state at record levels, this makes a significant impact.”

The new funding from Walz is authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act and distributed through the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

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