As states battle a U.S. Department of Agriculture directive to pause SNAP funding during the government shutdown, residents brace for the impact of losing approximately $600,000 per month in funding from the program.
N.C. Attorney General Jeff Jackson signed onto a lawsuit with 24 other states and Washington D.C. in an attempt to make the USDA tap into $6 billion in contingency funding to ensure the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program sees continued funding. An Oct. 28 press release from the state Department of Justice said 1.4 million North Carolinians use the program, 600,000 of which are children. SNAP has been funded during previous shutdowns.
Macon County was receiving approximately $600,000 monthly through SNAP as of May. The number comes from NCFAST beta, a website managed by the University of North Carolina system that tracks SNAP benefits across counties. The site shows Food and Nutrition Supplement funding (called the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program at the federal level) mostly hovered between $600,000 and $700,000 since April 2023. Funding spiked temporarily following the impact of Hurricane Helene in October and November 2024, and has since declined to around $600,000 per month, ranging between $649,015 in December 2024 to $585,824 at the program’s last data point in May 2025.
From December to May, the number of households receiving FNS ranged from 1,935 to 2,090. Individuals ranged from 3,673 to 4,022 and average household size held steady at 1.9. Median benefits were paid out between $234 and $250 and mean benefits were paid between $302.75 and $310.53.
Individuals or families who qualify for SNAP will likely be impacted by the sudden loss of hundreds of dollars per month. They may need to make difficult decisions between paying for food, gas, medicine or rent. The impact of food insecurity extends farther.
A 2019 study from the National Institute of Health found that SNAP reduced food insecurity by up to 30%, with the impact greater for households with more severe food insecurity. It found SNAP reduces poverty by freeing up funds for recipients to spend on other basic needs and that it improved health outcomes for recipients with adults missing less work due to illness and visiting the doctor less. Pregnant mothers on SNAP were found to birth fewer low birth weight babies.
The research also found that adults who had access to the program as children reported better health as children and lower risks of obesity and other chronic conditions as adults. Children who received SNAP may also live longer with better economic outcomes. Older adults on SNAP were better able to afford medicine and were less likely to skip doses due to cost. They were less likely to enter hospitals and nursing homes. Overall, recipients had to spend less money on medicine and treatment nationwide.
Impact for farmers and grocers
Managers of large local supermarkets like Ingles, Walmart and Food Lion did not disclose how much income they bring in from SNAP, but reporting from Newsweek found that of approximately $100 billion spent on SNAP in 2024, 25% went to Walmart.
Devon Dupuis of the Macon County Farmers Market said the market generated more than $8,000 in revenue for local farmers this year because of SNAP and the market’s Double SNAP program. While most farmers are done for the season and the market expects to wind down at the end of November, Dupuis said some farmers are still selling SNAP-eligible food items like baked goods for the remainder of this month that could be impacted by the lapse in funding.
CC Krome of Temperance Farm said, “Our family is not currently on SNAP. However, we greatly benefit from SNAP because the farmers markets we attend accept and double up food stamps.” Krome disputed stereotypes that recipients purchase unhealthy food and that healthy food is overpriced and unattainable.
“Every week we are supplying produce to many SNAP families and individuals who deeply care about their health and wellbeing, they want fresh, organic, nutritious food,” Krome said. “This is deeply aligned with our mission to feed our community and provide nutrient-dense produce that is farmed with methods that are harmonious with the environment … a purchase made with a physical dollar or a swipe of a credit card or a wooden SNAP token are all the same in our eyes. It means that the neighbor in front of us gets to eat and we get paid for our hard labor to create sustenance. If our community members lose SNAP, we lose profit and our food is more likely to get composted rather than be enjoyed by our friends, family and neighbors.”