Food First Backgrounder Vol. 14 #3: The Food Crisis Comes Home: Empty food banks, rising costs--symtoms of a hungrier nation

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Fall 2008

By Heidi Conner, Juliana Mandell, Meera Velu and Annie Shattuck

The food crisis is worsening. The UN World Food Program predicts a jump in the number of hungry people in the world from 860 million to more than one billion people—one of every six people in the world. Retail prices of food in the U.S. increased four percent last year, driven by a combination of speculation, high oil prices, agrofuel consumption, a weak dollar, climatic
events, and historically low grain reserves. The USDA projects that price increases will total another three to four percent in 2008; the steepest increase in 17 years.1 The 35 million food-insecure people in the U.S. who are most affected by the food price crisis may be joined by 50 million
others living at or near the poverty level.

The double whammy of a declining economy and escalating food and energy prices is squeezing the poor and the middle class alike, and is not being addressed in a meaningful way by politicians or the presidential candidates. Over 28 million people—a national record—have been driven into the food stamp program.2 Nationally, food banks are seeing more demand while donations have dropped precipitously. Farmers are being pinched by increased input costs, while poor consumers are left to scramble for their next meal. Solving this food crisis at home will require a fundamental restructuring of our food system.

To read the entire report, open the attached pdf file