People are fed up with high grocery prices, and the impact of cuts from the Trump administration to food-assistance programs and Medicaid could further harm the most vulnerable Americans.
The administration’s on-again, off-again tariffs, and cuts made through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act pushed through Congress by Republicans, have the potential to add further stress to the homes of millions of Americans, including more than 12,000 receiving SNAP benefits in Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County.
On top of the impact to households, the financial toll on small business and farmers is also beginning to resonate as consumers may become more frugal with what money they do have.
President Donald Trump has consistently shown how out-of-touch he is with working-class families calling the word “groceries” an “old-fashioned term.”
His visit to a grocery store on the campaign trail was in one word: awkward.
Rising cost of groceries is major stressor for Americans
Despite Trump’s promises on the campaign trail that “grocery prices will come tumbling down” if he was elected, the opposite has been true.
More than 8o percent of Americans said the rising cost of groceries are a source of stress for their household, according to a new poll from the Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The poll found that the impact of high costs at the supermarket affects all ages, young and old.
“I have no savings,” said Esther Bland, 78, a Washington resident, in an article for the AP. “I’m not sure what’s going on politically when it comes to the food banks, but if I lost that, groceries would absolutely be a major source of stress.”
Food banks bracing for greater demand
Due to federal reductions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, many of which won’t take effect until September, food banks across the nation are bracing for more demand.
Potentially, federal assistance could be cut off for 42 million Americans.
In Waynesboro, a local client-choice food pantry said families are struggling to maintain their standard of living.
“There are people who are struggling, who are actually traying, and as the community begins to get strangled by a lot of the policies that are being put into place, the reality is many of them have not come into full play yet, but we’ve seen individuals whose SNAP benefits are being rolled back even now,” A.J. Young, co-founder of the River City Bread Basket, told AFP.
“It’s going to take all of us working together to get through what we’re in right now.”
Piling on: Less SNAP benefits could put an end to local grocers
In addition to more Americans facing food insecurity, grocers and small businesses in rural areas may face hardship as consumers have less and less money to spend.
The Center for American Progress identified 27,000 retailers that will likely be hit the hardest due to cuts to SNAP and changes to Medicaid.
In the local region, there are thousands of SNAP recipients:
- Augusta County: 5,800 recipients
- Staunton: 3,166 recipients
- Waynesboro: 3,247 recipients
In many rural areas, there aren’t large grocery chains available. Smaller grocers rely on SNAP recipients to stay open and cannot absorb the costs that big-box competitors can.
In Virginia, retailers at highest risk of being harmed by SNAP cuts include those in:
- Bristol
- Buchanan County
- Danville
- Emporia
- Franklin
- Hopewell
- Lee County
- Martinsville
- Petersburg
- Portsmouth
Tariffs and beyond: Grocery costs continue to rise, including beef
The Yale Budget Lab estimates that approximately 75 percent of the country’s food imports will be impacted by the Trump tariffs in some way – everything from coffee to baked goods, fish and beer.
For historical perspective, the average rate under the Trump tariffs will be the highest since 1935.
Locally, farmers in Augusta and Rockingham counties could be impacted by tariffs on beef. The two counties have the highest cattle inventory in Virginia.
The price is beef is already at an all-time high, trending upward for several years in part due to a lack of profitability resulting in fewer cows, according to John Benner, an animal science Extension Agent in Augusta County.
There is evidence that farmers are beginning to rebuild their herds but it will take two years before you see the impact of this in the supply chain and at the grocery store.
Benner is unsure how tariffs will impact beef specifically.
“My understanding is that there are no current tariffs outlined on beef specifically,” Benner said. “However, tariffs on Brazilian imports may include beef. Brazil would represent probably the largest exporter of beef to the U.S. Certainly other tariffs on other commodities could incidentally impact beef prices.
“Reciprocal tariffs on U.S. beef exported to other countries could impact prices,” he added. “I do think that likely many countries will still import U.S. beef but may shift more imports to other countries like Brazil.”
The bottom line for farmers has also been impacted by cuts to federal programs that provided funding to food banks to buy from local farmers.
Experts warn that the federal government is creating circumstances comparable to “going into another pandemic.”
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