Feeding America: Obama Admin Likes Farm to School ... (updated)

[ProSense]

Feeding America: Obama Admin Likes Farm to School (updated with pledges)

by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that 1 in 4 children suffered hunger in the U.S. last year. The hunger body count is staggering: 17 million children in 2008 or an increase of 4.3 million more children than in 2007. While some link current hunger rates to our recessionary widespread unemployment, child hunger was a "problem before the recession." If sustainable solutions are not implemented, then children will continue to suffer hunger after the economy recovers. Indeed, research shows that most families suffering from hunger have "at least one adult with a full-time job," suggesting root causes include wages, not just unemployment.

The Farm to School program is one way to provide nutritious food now to children in a manner that is sustainable in the future.

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Obama Administration likes Food to School Programs

The Obama administration wants nutritious food (pdf file) in our schools:



After USDA Deputy Secretary Merrigan visited a school with a program, she stated that she would like to extend the programs "across the county." One ally to assist expansion of food nutrition programs is White House chef Sam Kass, who is also a food initiative coordinator who attends policy meetings to develop strategies to improve children's health and nutrition.

Kass is a good man to have the president's ear on why government agricultural subsidies need to be improved:

We find ourselves in a fight to salvage a food system that has been ravaged by an approach of quantity over quality. The industry our society has built around food is harmful and unsustainable.

more

Lots of information, video clips and a link to donate at the original link.

Updated to add:

One figure that drew officials’ attention was the number of households, 506,000, in which children faced “very low food security”: up from 323,000 the previous year. President Obama, who has pledged to end childhood hunger by 2015, released a statement while traveling in Asia that called the finding “particularly troubling.”

The ungainly phrase “food insecurity” stems from years of political and academic wrangling over how to measure adequate access to food. In the 1980s, when officials of the Reagan administration denied there was hunger in the United States, the Food Research and Action Center, a Washington advocacy group, began a survey that concluded otherwise. Over time, Congress had the Agriculture Department oversee a similar survey, which the Census Bureau administers.

Though researchers at the Agriculture Department do not use the word “hunger,” Mr. Obama did. “Hunger rose significantly last year,” he said.

Analysts said the main reason for the growth was the rise in the unemployment rate, to 7.2 percent at the end of 2008 from 4.9 percent a year earlier. And since it now stands at 10.2 percent, the survey might in fact understate the number of Americans struggling to get adequate food.

link

Statement by the President on the Release of the Annual Household Food Security Report

“As American families prepare to gather for Thanksgiving, we received an unsettling report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that found that hunger rose significantly last year. This trend was already painfully clear in many communities across our nation, where food stamp applications are surging and food pantry shelves are emptying.

It is particularly troubling that there were more than 500,000 families in which a child experienced hunger multiple times over the course of the year. Our children’s ability to grow, learn, and meet their full potential – and therefore our future competitiveness as a nation – depends on regular access to healthy meals.

My Administration is committed to reversing the trend of rising hunger. The first task is to restore job growth, which will help relieve the economic pressures that make it difficult for parents to put a square meal on the table each day. But we are also taking targeted steps to prevent Americans from experiencing hunger. Earlier this year, we extended help to those hit hardest by this economic downturn by boosting SNAP benefits. And Secretary Vilsack is working hard to make sure eligible families are able to access those benefits as well as the School Lunch and Breakfast Program. In addition, a bill I signed into law last month invests $85 million in new strategies to prevent children from experiencing hunger in the summer.

Hunger is a problem that we can solve together, and I look forward to working with Congress to pass a strong child nutrition bill that will help children get the healthy meals they need to grow and succeed – and help keep America competitive in the decades to come.”

The full USDA Household Food Security report can be viewed here: www.ers.usda.gov/features/householdfoodsecurity/

Edited to add links.

[Clio the Leo]

1. Thanks! Bookmarking for later. NT

[HopeOverFear]

2. K & R

[Cha]

3. Thanks for all of

this info, PS!

This is the best Idea! Farm to School..everyone wins.

[Kdillard]

4. It is interesting to read that food insecurity increased for low income

Families from 2000-2007. Heck of a job Bush. I am hoping Obama can help reverse this trend and there are better results from this report in 2010. I also think farm to school is an amazing program and hope it expands to all states by the time Obama leaves office.

[ProSense]

5. This deserves more exposure. n/t