17,521 residents of Ulster County don’t have enough money to be sure of where their next meal is coming from—an absurd problem to have in a county that is home to 486 farms.

Enter the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a federally subsidized food benefits program referred to colloquially as “food stamps.”

Because United States congressional representatives were unable to cooperate to pass funding legislation for 2026, the federal government shut down on Oct. 1.

As the month dragged on and Congress showed no signs of a compromise, the state agency that administers the federal funding for food benefits to all counties in New York—the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance—warned recipients that unless the government reopened, SNAP benefits anticipated to be received

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