June 12, 2025
Building a Stronger Food System: Spotlight on the Wyoming Food Coalition
In the face of rising food insecurity across the state, the Wyoming Food Coalition is working to build a more just, equitable, and resilient food system for all Wyomingites. With 1 in 6 residents (and 1 in 5 children!) facing hunger, the Coalition brings together local producers, food access organizations, and advocates to tackle the root causes of food insecurity. Through education, collaboration, and community-driven solutions, the Wyoming Food Coalition is helping ensure that every person, regardless of geography or income, has access to nutritious, affordable food that’s grown and distributed right here in the state.
Article Contributor: BJ Edwards, LeAnn Miller, Kali Goodenough, and Sadie Clarendon
What is the current food insecurity/hunger climate in Wyoming?
The Wyoming food insecurity rate is 15.5%, with 59% of those experiencing food insecurity ineligible for SNAP benefits [formerly called food stamps] (Feeding America, 2023).
Food insecurity is growing. The rate was 10.6% in 2021, and 14.4% in 2022. 53% of Wyomingites are eligible for SNAP (2023 data as reported in Wyoming Foodscape Through a Lens of Food Insecurity 2023), however only 56% of eligible Wyomingites utilize SNAP (2023 data as reported in Wyoming Foodscape Through a Lens of Food Insecurity 2023). 24.2% of Wyoming is at or below 185% of the Federal Poverty Level, which is the income eligibility cut-off for WIC [Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program] and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (US Census Bureau). According to Map the Meal Gap from Feeding America (2023), in Wyoming, 90,020 people are facing hunger, and of them 27,230 are children. That breaks down to 1 in 6 people facing hunger in Wyoming, and 1 in 5 children facing hunger.
What these data points tell us is that food insecurity is a growing challenge in Wyoming. There are gaps between those who are eligible for food assistance and yet not accessing those resources, and there are gaps between eligibility for food assistance programs and meeting the needs of those experiencing food insecurity. Additionally, food assistance programs like SNAP are not enough to overcome food insecurity for some families (Wyoming Foodscape Through a Lens of Food Insecurity 2023).
What are the biggest obstacles that keep Wyomingites from accessing food?
Distance to grocery stores and lack of transportation (Wyoming Foodscape Through a Lens of Food Insecurity 2023) lead to gaps in food access. Weather, food costs, and geographic location all keep Wyomingites from accessing food. The vast geographical area of Wyoming and the relatively low population presents a significant challenge, as producers and consumers are often hundreds of miles apart. When we overlay demographic information like cost-of-living, food distribution centers, income, race, age, and other information, we are able to get a broader picture of why Wyoming has food insecurity. We often see food deserts with low grocery store density/low access to nutritious foods in areas that are suffering from food insecurity (Wyoming Community Foundation, 2024).
From a producer's side, Wyoming weather presents challenges, including a short growing season, unpredictable frost, wind, and closed roads among other things. Consumers are often uneducated in price sensitivity to production of food (especially when it comes to locally produced goods), and farmers face a stigma that they are making lots of money and can easily afford to discount or give away the food they grow. Local food often comes at a higher price, but the product is often fresher, less likely to spoil, has less of a carbon footprint, provides jobs for local community members to produce it, and is more nutrient-dense due to multiple factors including a shorter travel distance/less time in storage.
There are stigmas associated with using food assistance programs, like SNAP (Wyoming Foodscape Through a Lens of Food Insecurity 2023), and fear around accessing government programs. There often just isn't enough information available to educate the public on the availability of these programs.
“Food brings us together more fiercely than any other common force that I know of. We all have to eat no matter what our income, background, occupation, beliefs, priorities, or interests are. This is why I feel the work of The Wyoming Food Coalition is so important- it impacts us all and it is up to every one of us as Wyomingites to build the food system we want to pass on to our children and their children. Wyoming is pretty young when it comes to food policy and infrastructure advancements, but we have the advantage of seeing how other communities have built their own independent and interconnected food systems, and we are already learning from the failures and successes of our surrounding states. I'm excited about the passion that our organization and partners harbor on a daily basis, despite the challenges we all are facing, this collective passion is what keeps me in the role of serving the Wyoming Food Coalition and our Wyoming communities.”
– BJ Edwards, Executive Director
How can we build food security for our communities in Wyoming?
With education and coalition building, we can make sure that we are utilizing the resources and data we have to combat hunger in Wyoming.
There are many different strategies to leverage to build food security in Wyoming; they will be unique to the social landscape, infrastructure, identity, and politics of Wyoming. For example, the Wyoming Food Coalition is providing an education and networking opportunity for food banks and pantries around reducing and intercepting food waste in their areas to maximize the amount of food that can be consumed in the food system at our next event called Food Rescue Rendezvous in Laramie on September 5th. In other spheres, we can work on protecting agricultural land and water from development to make sure food continues to be produced in Wyoming, while at the same time building better distribution centers or expanding the capacity of meat processors to ensure food is produced and processed in Wyoming for Wyomingites.
The other work involves connecting with stakeholders in the Wyoming Food System and advocating for fair, just, and equitable food systems that benefit all Wyomingites. We can make change through policy revisions, but also through community and nonprofit buy-in for providing food security for all those living in Wyoming.
Some food for thought…
If 5% of a family or individual's food budget was spent on local foods, it would contribute nearly $36.3 million dollars to Wyoming's GDP, as this spending tends to cut down on the amount of dollars that leave Wyoming and grow jobs within the state itself.
People experiencing food insecurity are more likely to have increased health challenges and decreased consumption of nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables. (BRFSS data)
People earning less than $15,000/year have the highest rate of high cholesterol for any income group at 39.5% and the highest rate of hypertension for any income group at 42.6%. Of people in this income range, 32.1% reported eating vegetables less than 1 time per day and 53.3% reported eating fruits less than one time per day, which are the lowest rates for any income group.
