Skip to main content Skip to footer

Action Alert




Urge your Senators to Support Food Aid Reform in the 2007 Farm Bill!


“The present food aid system is a favorite of American farmers. But it is also cumbersome, slow, expensive, and leaves people hungry who could easily be fed. President Bush has rightly proposed shifting $300 million from farm subsidies to enable governments and relief groups to buy food locally.

This plan struck a responsive chord almost everywhere except the Congress… this is sad but unsurprising. Farm policy continues to be dominated by farm-state legislators who prefer the traditional approach of sending surplus food abroad, further enriching heavily subsidized farmers as well as the shipping industry…

The virtues of Mr. Bush's idea are self-evident. What it needs is full Congressional support, not pilot programs. It would be nice if, for once, America's farm bloc could think of interests other than its own.”

- Editorial, New York Times, August 4, 2007



Urge your Senators to Support Food Aid Reform in the 2007 Farm Bill!

CALL Senate: 202-224-3121 (Operator assistance)



Contact and ask your Senators to support the proposal to allow 25% of non-emergency food aid purchases under Title II to be provided in cash for local and regional purchase rather than as commodities purchased in the United States and shipped to developing countries. Policy makers need to hear from us NOW that this is an issue we care about!

Senate Agricultural Committee Members:

Democrats: Tom Harkin, (D-IA) Chairman; Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont; Kent Conrad, North Dakota; Max Baucus, Montana; Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas; Debbie Stabenow, Michigan; E. Benjamin Nelson, Nebraska; Ken Salazar , Colorado; Sherrod Brown, Ohio; Robert Casey, Jr., Pennsylvania; Amy Klobuchar , Minnesota.

Republicans: Saxby Chambliss, (R-GA) Ranking Republican Member; Richard G. Lugar, Indiana; Thad Cochran, Mississippi; Mitch McConnell, Kentucky; Pat Roberts, Kansas; Lindsey Graham, South Carolina; Norm Coleman, Minnesota; Mike Crapo, Idaho; John Thune, South Dakota; Charles Grassley, Iowa.

Background

Each year millions of tons of food are shipped from the United States as food aid to respond to crises resulting from droughts, conflicts and severe poverty. While there is little doubt that this aid has saved countless lives, it is also clear that the US program – where most food aid is purchased and bagged by US agribusinesses and shipped by US shipping firms – designed over 50 years ago when the US had abundant food surpluses to dispose of, is enormously inefficient.

A recent study by the US Government Accountability Office found that rising business and shipping costs have meant that the volume of food aid delivered over the last five years has fallen by more than 50 percent. CARE, one of the world’s biggest charities, has just announced that it is turning down some $45 million a year in federal financing, saying American food aid is not only plagued with inefficiencies, but also may hurt some of the very poor people it aims to help. Deliveries of in-kind food aid can undercut local farmers’ crop sales, especially when they arrive late, after a new harvest. Changing the way at least a portion of US food aid is purchased could make a huge difference for food aid recipients in countries and regions around the world.

The Bush Administration has proposed that up to 25% of non-emergency food aid be used to purchase food in recipient or neighboring countries. However, when the House of Representatives considered its version of the Farm Bill, even an amendment offered by Representative Blumenauer (D-OR) for a $100 million pilot program for regional and local purchases of food aid was not included. Now Senator Harkin intends to include a pilot program that allocates $25 million a year for four years to test local and regional purchases of food aid in the 2007 Farm Bill.

As the New York Times editorial says, the virtues of purchasing food in recipient countries are self-evident and need full Congressional support! While this would constitute a substantial change from current US policy, these policies are not untested. The European Union procures a major share of its food aid—90 percent in 2004—in developing countries themselves. Canada increased local and regional purchases from 10 percent to 50 percent in 2005. The World Food Program also has extensive experience providing food aid this way with positive results.

Purchasing available food in the country experiencing a crisis or in a nearby country could enable food aid providers to deliver more food more quickly. It would also mean that recipient governments would not be compelled to accept genetically modified or culturally inappropriate foods. Local or regional procurement would have the added benefits of encouraging local farmers to build up production levels and support regional economic development as well.

Call your Senator today and let them know that you want them to support the proposed change in the 2007 Farm Bill which would allow for 25% of emergency food aid purchases under Title II to be provided in cash for local and regional purchase rather than as commodities purchased in the United States and shipped to developing countries.


Urge your Senators to Support Food Aid Reform in the 2007 Farm Bill!

CALL Senate: 202-224-3121 (Operator assistance)



Support our Campaign to Pressure Congress to Ensure Food Aid Goes to Those in Need

Dowload Our Report Food Aid or Food Sovereignty? Ending World Hunger in Our Time

Read our Opinion Editorial published by TomPaine.Com

Read Coverage of US Food Aid in the New York Times