Oregonians are pulling out of a deficit in food security — slowly.

According to a recent United States Department of Agriculture study on national household food security in 2010, Oregon ranked ninth in households with "very low food security" statewide at 6.1 percent, or more than 223,000 individuals. While this seems gloomy, it's a significant drop from the past years' ratings. In 2008, Oregon ranked second, in 2009, fifth (pdf). But on the national scale, Oregon clearly remains above the 5.6 percent average, which dropped slightly from 5.7 percent last year.

Agriculture Undersecretary Kevin Concannon says that this small national uptick in food security could be based on the rise of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP — the recently renamed food stamp program — now serves 45.2 million Americans, a 70 percent increase from 2007.

And Oregon has followed the national trend. Specifically, 779,568 Oregonians received SNAP in 2010, a nine percent increase from 2009. Despite the potential misuse by Food Stamp Foodies, it looks like federal aide has help fill Oregon's belly.