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U.S. Food Aid in the News





Help us Pressure Congress to Ensure Food Aid Goes to Those in Need

Read Recent Coverage on U.S. Food Aid in the New York Times

Each year millions of tons of food are shipped to developing countries as food aid. But here in the U.S., a dirty little secret is hiding in the food aid system that is benefiting U.S. companies—not developing countries.

Primarily geared towards the disposal of cereal surpluses, U.S. food aid system has been a tool to serve foreign policy and trade interests. This preference given to in-kind food produced in the U.S. and the U.S. shipping industry makes U.S. food aid the most expensive in the world.

Food delivered by NGOs and the U.S. World Food Program in 2004 cost only 40 percent of the U.S. food aid budget. The rest was pocketed by suppliers! In addition, the requirement that all food aid be grown in and shipped from the United States delays delivery of emergency food aid by nearly five months on average.

The Oakland Institute’s report, “Food Aid or Food Sovereignty: Ending World Hunger in Our Time” exposed this scandal and helped reignite the debate on foreign aid and implications of dumping U.S. agricultural surpluses on small farmers and Third World economies. Thanks to the advocacy and hard work done by the civil society, this issue is now in the news along with a groundbreaking proposal from the White House requiring one-fourth of food aid to be bought locally.

Unfortunately, bowing to special interests-- the U.S. Congress has rejected the administration backed recommendation, making U.S. the only nation that still refuses local and regional purchases. Canada has increased the share of its food aid open to local and regional purchases from 10% to 50%. A major share of EU food aid - 90 percent in 2004 - is now procured in developing countries.

The Oakland Institute has taken the challenge to change U.S. food aid head on. We are evaluating current food aid programs and their response to food crisis situations, and proposing specific steps to drastically change the current system to combat world hunger more effectively. We are advocating for policies that emphasize helping countries develop their own agriculture which feed more people and decrease developing countries' dependence on aid programs in the long run.

Join us today in this struggle to fix U.S. food aid!

Help us Pressure Congress to Ensure Food Aid Goes to Those in Need

Download Food Aid or Food Sovereignty? Ending World Hunger In Our Time

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See Media Coverage Generated by the Report

Read Recent Coverage on U.S. Food Aid in the New York Times