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On the shelves inside the giant food bank warehouse in Rockville, Maryland, you see a giant stack of flour packets. The sign next to the stack says “1 each” for those packing up food boxes for families.
A shorter stack of canned “mixed fruit” is next to the flour. An even shorter stack of canned tuna is the next to the fruit.
But it’s the empty shelves above that tell the story.
The demand for donated food is unprecedented at the Manna Food Center.
In fairness, this is a challenging moment for food banks and pantries across the country, including in this diverse suburb 20 miles north of Washington, D.C.
Food banks have two fundamental, destabilizing problems that are getting worse:
The food is getting more expensive
The diesel to deliver the food is getting more expensive
With just a few weeks remaining until a highly-anticipated midterm election, the cost crisis is worse than some elected leaders – including President Trump – are acknowledging.
A week of interviews and food pantry visits by Scott MacFarlane Reports reveals the depths of the problem. Some of the reality is masked by Trump’s claims that the economy is the greatest in history, in the “hottest country in the world.”
A newly-released study called the “Hunger Report”, produced by a Washington, D.C.-based food bank group had an alarming diagnosis: “The state of food security more broadly is deteriorating.”
Some of the findings are just gutting.
The survey found broad swaths of people who acknowledge they:
Cut the sizes of their children’s meals, due to the cost of the food
Have children who didn’t eat for an entire day
Skipped meals, to save money
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At the Manna Food Center in Maryland, chief executive officer Craig Rice is worried about the surge in fuel costs, which have already spiked 25 to 30 percent in recent months. Rice said the food bank must run its trucks for delivery. They have to swallow the increasing prices, and press harder for donations to fill the gap.
“We’re seeing so many people come to us, who’ve never come to (the food bank) before,” Rice warns, “It used to be people who were working hourly-wage jobs. Now we see people who are salary employees.”
“They may have been stable at one price, but suddenly they’re impacted by gas prices,” Rice said.
In Lorain County, Ohio – roughly 40 minutes west of Cleveland - the Second Harvest Food Bank said they’re collecting chicken and beans to ensure families have a sufficient quantity of protein.
“The beef prices are extraordinary. It used to be that we could buy a truckload of beef.. But now that’s not a reality,” said Julie Chase-Morefield, the CEO of Second Harvest.
They’re pivoting to canned chicken, if and when other proteins aren’t affordable or available.
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Ohio, a major agricultural state, produces mass quantities of fresh produce. But the surge in diesel prices is jamming farmers and making fruits and vegetables less affordable for families and food banks. Chase-Morefield said, “We’re hearing from our farmer partners, this is harvest season. Those costs to put diesel in their equipment is increasing the price of the products coming out of their field.”
The problem will cascade into the winter, because this month is a pivotal month for agriculture product harvesting, which are put in cold storage for winter and early spring.
Second Harvest Food Bank is tapping into its “rainy day fund” this month, to ensure it can maintain its services.
Chase-Morefield said her organization’s diesel expenses were approximately $50,000 last year. But the diesel costs have tripled to $150,000 in 2026, with no federal government assistance to foot the bill.
The food banks are nonpolitical, charitable operations. But this crisis risks dragging down Trump’s allies in Congress. The annual report by the Capital Food Bank in Washington notes how a Trump-championed spending law reduced eligibility for nutritional benefits and assistance.
The report said, “The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the nation’s largest federal nutrition assistance program. For nearly eight decades, it has helped eligible low-income individuals and families afford groceries and maintain access to a nutritious diet. It serves as a critical nutrition support for nearly 40 million people in the US.”
At the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, operators have noticed the sharp increase in demand, including among children. The organization’s president Amy Beros told Scott MacFarlane Reports, the region’s food charities are seeing a “20 to 60 percent” increase in need of food services since last year.
The diesel prices are a cruel complication. Beros said the organization is planning for the likelihood that diesel costs surge to $8/gallon by the end of the year. They’ve gone so far as re-designing their truck routes and limiting speeds of their trucks, to reduce fuel usage.
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When we asked Beros about the severity of the crisis, she paused a moment, then said, “It’s really hard for people in the United States to understand the scale of hunger, because it doesn’t look like it looks on TV.”
Amid the midterm election campaigns, Democrats have frequently blasted the GOP for supporting a Trump-championed spending law, which reduced eligibility for nutritional benefits.
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Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), who sits on the powerful US Senate Appropriations Committee, told 535 news, “When I talked to the food pantries - and the people working extra hard – they point to the rising needs.”
Van Hollen argues Trump and Republicans “are driving prices up and cutting support for the SNAP program and food nutrition programs. The federal government should be doing a lot more, including reversing the cuts.”
There are further cuts looming. According to the Capitol Area Food Bank, “For the first time in the program’s history, many states will now be required to pay for a portion of SNAP benefit costs, effective October 2027 or later.”
Democrats will face calls to restore some of the federal nutritional funding if they win majorities in Congress in November.
But for food banks – which eschew politics - the problem is immediate.
Rice said the pantries can’t cut corners on nutrition. The families who seek donated food must be given vegetables, fruit and vitamin-rich food. In the video below, Rice shows us what he includes in boxes for families, including those with young children.
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