Minnesota food shelves saw a record 9 million visits last year

Kyeland Jackson, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Apr 4, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — Many Minnesotans are still struggling to afford food as residents set a fourth consecutive record for food shelf visits in 2025.

Since the pandemic and the record inflation that followed, food insecurity has grown dramatically in the North Star State.

Minnesotans made more than 9 million food shelf visits last year, according to the Food Group, a nonprofit. That’s more than double the visits recorded in 2019.

“This isn’t an isolated spike; it’s a multiyear, statewide trend of high food costs and record visits to food shelves,” said Sophia Lenarz-Coy, executive director of the Food Group.

Children accounted for more than a third of last year’s food shelf visits.

The increased need also comes as food pantries shutter across the state. Just last week, Ruby’s Pantry, which served dozens of Minnesota communities, abruptly shuttered.

“Minnesota’s food shelves have been amazingly flexible and creative with their resources,” Lenarz-Coy said in a statement. “But long-term investment in the statewide hunger relief system is needed, particularly in the wake of historic cuts to SNAP.”

Food Group officials say rising grocery prices and cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and the Emergency Food Assistance Program left shelves with 1 million fewer pounds to give last year.

Food shelf organizers like the Rev. Jeff Nehrbass worry that further cuts could cause a “cascading failure” in Minnesota’s food systems.

This year could set a fifth consecutive record for food pantry visits, given the effects of the federal immigration operation here this winter.

“Operation Metro Surge has only magnified barriers to food access for immigrant communities and created operational challenges for food shelves and food banks alike,” Lenarz-Coy said.

Advocates continue to call on residents to help through mutual aid and volunteer work.