advocacy, federal policy
What Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. Territories Have in Common at the Grocery Store
July 6, 2026
In early June, AFPC worked with partners in Alaska, as well as our partners in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, to develop and submit comments on USDA’s planned study of food prices. USDA wants to collect current, on-the-ground pricing for the foods and beverages in the Thrifty Food Plan market basket across seven states and territories that current data largely misses – Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, CNMI, and the U.S. Virgin Islands – and use the updated prices to inform federal nutrition and agriculture policy going forward.
This is important work, and we strongly support USDA proceeding with a study – with some caveats summarized below. The price differentials for federal food programs currently used in Alaska come from fieldwork conducted in the early 1980s, with general inflation layered on top ever since. While USDA updated some of this in 2023, comparing Anchorage prices to the Lower 48, rural and off-road Alaska was left almost entirely out of the picture.
We had a lot to say in response to their request for comments on their study design. We asked USDA to ensure the proposed Alaska sample (39 retailers) actually reaches off-road, rural communities, not just Anchorage and the road system, since over 80% of Alaska communities aren’t connected by road. We flagged that collecting pricing data via web scraping won’t work for most rural stores, which largely don’t maintain websites with up-to-date prices. We also asked for seasonal data collection in Alaska, with at least one during summer barge season and one in winter when air cargo is often the only way food gets to a community. We know a single snapshot in time won’t capture how much prices actually swing.
We emphasized that Tribal organizations need to be brought in as formal research partners, not just contacts on a list, and that developing relationships will be necessary to make rural data collection possible. We encouraged an acknowledgment of subsistence harvest in the final report. While it falls outside a purchased-food market basket, Alaskans harvest an estimated 37 million pounds of wild food a year, and a study that doesn’t mention that is missing important context.
We also highlighted how this data collection matters beyond SNAP and Thrifty Food Plan prices. Alaska’s military installations use cost-of-living data to set pay for service members, Federal agencies use it for recruitment and retention in rural posts, and logistics managers need it to know where investment is needed most. Good food price data informs many policy and budget decisions, with lasting impacts on Alaskans and our communities.
The formal comment period closed on June 9th. We don’t have any information on what the next steps will be, but will keep our eyes out for updates from the USDA. In the meantime, you can read AFPC’s comments here, along with comments from MAZON, and our partners at Hawaii Appleseed.
From 2023 until the current administration terminated the program in 2025, AFPC had the honor and pleasure of working alongside food systems partners in Hawaii and the U.S. Territories on the Islands & Remote Areas Regional Food Business Center. We learned firsthand of the many similarities and strengths to be found in collaborating, which we continue to, despite the end of the national RFBC program.
