Hunger in America

The news has been full of articles about the 2012 Farm Bill. This publicity is good. The Farm Bill is not just about farming; it is an essential policy and funding point for delivering food and services to those in need. Reauthorized every five years, with the current version expiring this Sept 30th, the Farm Bill makes it possible for food pantries nationwide to serve neighbors who need help.  

The House of Representatives did not move forward on a bill before the summer recess and will have only a limited time frame to act when they return to work in September.  They are talking about making major cuts in appropriations.

The point we want to convey is that if benefits to unemployed, disabled and low income families are cut, then non-governmental organizations like Care for Real will have to try to make up the slack. Cutting food benefits to the poor will not make the poor go away. They will still need to eat.  

The Farm Bill is a giant (about $100 billion a year) omnibus piece of legislation. It regulates everything from forestry to livestock. However, 80% of the money goes to fund nutrition and emergency food assistance programs such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program formerly known as food stamps), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and the Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP). About half of CfR's clients are presently receiving some form of this assistance. For SNAP, the average assistance in Illinois is $139/month.

Participation in these programs has risen since the start of the recession in 2007, of course. But federal and state budget deficits have resulted in funding cuts, widening the gap between demand and the availability of these services. For example, while the average benefit in Illinois is $139, the USDA estimates that a monthly food bill is $375 for a family of two and $546 for a family of four.  

Budget cuts in this year's bill range from $4.5 billion passed in the Senate version of the bill to $30 billion proposed by the House, $16 billion of that in the SNAP program. As many as three million Americans could lose their SNAP benefits and up to 300,000 children could lose access to free school meal programs.  

Cutting the SNAP benefits also effects local businesses at a time that many are struggling. Not only does SNAP create a critical safety net, but it generates $9 in local economic activity for every $5 given in benefits.

Many of the recent news articles focus on the misplaced priorities of the present bill. For example, both Chicago Tribune and New York Times editorials suggest that reform to the program should include tightening or removing the subsidies given to large and profitable agribusiness companies and removing the subsidies to companies that provide crop insurance. Others have suggested removing the subsidies for farming unproductive and environmentally sensitive wetlands and arid terrain and removing subsidies for food additives that are connected to the obesity epidemic.

Author George Wilder Jr.

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