Originally published on the CGS blog on February 8, 2014.
Last Tuesday, Congress finally passed the 2014 Farm Bill that was three years in the making. And after a long wait, the bill is a win for food aid and security around the world. The nearly $1 trillion bill allots $2.5 billion for the Food for Peace Act that sends food aid overseas in the form of not only food but also community development programs. The bill also increases funding to nonprofits and international organizations that are providing aid abroad to $10 million and adds new provisions to improve the nutrition and quality of food the US gives as aid.
The biggest win for food security advocates, however, comes from the program that provides $80 million annually for global emergency food aid programs. This program allows managers to buy food supplies closer to the recipient rather than exclusively from the US, allowing food to be delivered faster and in a more cost-efficiently. The program builds on a 2008 pilot effort carried out in part by the UN’s World Food Program that showed that we could provide aid at half the cost and delivery time in both emergency and non-emergency settings.
For GlobalSolutions.org this outcome is particularly important because of the campaign we put out last year, Buy Local, Feed Global, championing this issue. Our members lobbied for this change, sending messages to over 168 Members of Congress, asking that they support lifting food aid restrictions that have limited our capacity to feed millions and support sustainable local food markets.
While this bill is a big step in the right direction, overall, food aid reform is still a work in progress. As we celebrate this victory, we need to continue fighting to keep this momentum going with the ultimate goal of feeding millions more around the world.
