Food Stamp Timeline
Evolution of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
1933 — Through the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation, established as part of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the Federal Government buys basic farm commodities at discount prices and distributes them among hunger relief agencies in States and local communities. 1939 — Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace initiates the first food stamp program. The program permits people on relief to buy orange stamps equal to their normal food expenditures. The government reimburses them with blue stamps that can only be used to buy food determined by the Agriculture Department to be surplus. 1943 — The first food stamp program ends “since the…
