Migrant Legal Action Program

Food and Nutrition

It is truly ironic that the people who pick the food we eat are often hungry themselves. Extremely low wages, mobility, and other factors in farmworkers’ daily lives often mean there is little money available for food.

Rural isolation, limited transportation options, and bad weather impede farmworkers’ ability to put nutritious food on their own tables. While there is no national data on farmworkers’ food insecurity and hunger, regional studies in Colorado, North Carolina, and Texas have estimated food insecurity rates of almost 50 per cent.

While farmworkers are underrepresented in participation in most federal assistance programs (as compared to their eligibility), farmworkers participate in the Food Stamp Program at a higher rate than other federal programs. Farmworker women and infants also often participate in the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Migrant Children in School

Migrant children and youth who are identified by a migrant education program or federal education program director are entitled to receive free school lunches, breakfasts, and snacks with no application form. For information on migrant children and the free or reduced price school meal programs click here.

School Breakfast for Migrant Children

Unfortunately, far fewer children receive breakfast than are eligible for this important meal. Even in areas where students are receiving lunch, fewer children are participating in breakfast programs than should be benefiting from a free breakfast. In some schools, only lunch is provided and breakfast is not.

School Breakfasts for Migrant Children: Increasing Participation in the School Breakfast Program for the Children of Migrant Farmworkers outlines ways to utilize the School Breakfast Program. Migrant Education Programs can advocate for school breakfasts and, equally important, advocate for school breakfast implementation that works for migrant children. Click here for a PDF copy.

Other Federal Nutrition Programs Available to Migrant Children

There are a variety of other food and nutrition programs which have been designed to reduce access barriers for migrant children and youth. These often-underutilized programs include:

The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which provides meals during summer months
The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), which provides after-school snacks as well as meals in childcare centers

For MLAP’s guide, Increasing Access to Food and Nutrition for Migrant Children: Select Federal Food Programs for the Children of Migrant Farmworkers, on how federal nutrition programs can be of use to Migrant Education Programs and others, click here.