Essential California Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Thursday, Aug. 1, and I’m writing from Los Angeles. Hunger in the Great Central Valley has long been one of the state’s cruelest ironies. This is the world’s breadbasket and America’s salad bowl. No other location on the planet has so much bountifully fertile Class 1 soil in one place or puts more food on the rest of the state’s plates. Tulare County, which spans from the lower San Joaquin Valley to the Sierra Nevada, is a national leader in agricultural production. But Tulare (pronounced too-lair-ee) also has the highest rate of food-stamp participation in the state, with more than 25% of residents relying on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or CalFresh, as its known in California. That’s a participation rate more than twice the national average. Only three other California countieshave rates above 20%, and all but one of them are in the Central Valley. “The heart of the agricultural region that feeds the world unfortunately has some of the highest rates of food hardship,” said Andrew Cheyne, director of government affairs for the California Assn. of Food Banks, noting that that the Central Valley cities of Bakersfield and Fresno rank as two of the “hungriest” cities in the country. Last week, the federal government announced proposed changes to SNAP eligibility that would close a so-called loophole that has long allowed states to streamline the benefits application process and take higher housing and childcare costs into account. [See also: “Trump Administration proposed cuts to SNAP could lead to hunger for area residents” in the Modesto Bee] Here’s how my colleague Michael Hiltzik explained it in a recent column: “The ‘loophole’ he’s referring to is known as ‘broad-based categorical eligibility,’ which allows states to accept residents into SNAP if they’ve already been deemed eligible for assistance through the government’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which is what most people probably would regard as traditional welfare, or are receiving cash payments under Supplemental Security Income, a program for low-income, aged, or the infirm.” “Broad-based eligibility allows states to enroll residents in SNAP without performing a duplicative income test or checking their assets,” Hiltzik wrote. “But it’s not designed to entirely eliminate income limits. Traditionally, SNAP covers households with income up to 130% of the federal poverty limit (or about $33,500 for a family of four); in some states, broad-based eligibility accommodates households with income up to 200% (or $51,500 for a family of four).” A similar proposal was previously rejected by Congress in the 2018 Farm Bill. This version could go into effect after a 60-day public comment period that began on July 24. Ending broad-based eligibility would, by the administration’s own account, probably mean that more than 3 million people would lose access to SNAP nationally. Here in California, estimates place the number of households who might lose access to SNAP at 120,000 or more. Cheyne’s colleague at the California Assn. of Food Banks, senior policy analyst Rachel Tucker, described the “the outsized impacts that this proposed rule would have in California, and particularly in the Central Valley,” if it goes into effect. [See also: “Congressman: Trump proposed food stamp changes could bring ‘insecurity’ to Central Valley” in the Visalia Times-Delta] Nicole Celaya runs Foodlink, the only independent food bank in Tulare County. The organization serves all 4,839 square miles of the county, and between 300,000 to 400,000 people annually. “Most of the people that we serve are the people that are picking the fruit and working in the fields and working in the packing houses,” Celaya said. “And they can’t afford to even buy the food that they are picking and that they are packing.” She, like other food bank operators, also expressed deep concern about what would happen if the proposed rules go through. “We’re already at capacity the way it is,” Celaya said. “If SNAP benefits get affected, and more people in our community lose those benefits, then it’s going to put a great strain on our resources.”