Degree Name
Master of Science
Department or Program
Agribusiness Economics
Advisor
Rendleman, Charles M
Abstract
SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) is a program that evolved from the Food Stamp Program. The Food Stamp Program was started 1939 after the Great Depression to combat food insecurity in the United States. Food insecurity occurs when an individual is without access to enough affordable and nutritious food. According to the USDA, the concept was developed by Henry Wallace, the Secretary of Agriculture and Milo Perkins who became the first administrator of the program. The initial concept was to allow participants in need the opportunity to purchase food, some of which was deemed as surplus. Some think it was ‘as much a farm price support program as an anti-poverty one’ (Tanner, 2013)