CHICOPEE, Mass. - We're hearing local reaction from food advocates about the Trump administration's decision to cancel an annual report on hunger. Calling the report redundant, costly, and politicized, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is ending its study on food insecurity in America. The Household Food Security Report provides data on the lack of adequate nutrition for low-income Americans. The Food Bank of Western Mass executive director, Andrew Morehouse,  said this data is critical to measure impact and outcomes and without it making decisions is a lot harder when trying to fight hunger across western Massachusetts. 

"We look at this information relative to food insecurity data that we are able to drill down, right to the municipal level and even the census track level , so we know where we need to be providing food the most,” he said. “It’s essential. It’s not an option. It’s how we do our work and how we find solutions to preventing and ultimately ending hunger. We need data to be able to do that." 

Morehouse said they''ll continue tracking and sharing food assistance data at the local level. The USDA said a final report will be released next month.