Feeding the Poor of the World

I started writing this blog because I wanted to learn more about good sources of food for my family.  In my search for high-quality local food, I inadvertently found information about the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that I was not aware of. I found out that the USDA is one of the divisions of government that is spending quite a bit of money on foreign interests. But are these foreign interests really our interests?

I’m not sure how I feel about this type government spending. I will admit that I don’t completely understand how the funding works. The language in the legislation that allows this spending contains words and phrases that do not make sense to the lay person. I suppose that may be on purpose.

Have you ever heard of the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program? I hadn’t either. It was named after former Senators George McGovern and Robert Dole because of their efforts to feed the poor children of the world. The program was authorized by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 and is administered by the Foreign Agricultural Service. 

The program provides food to some of the world’s poorest children. It takes the agricultural products of the USA and helps distribute them to areas of the world that may need it the most. There are criteria for countries to receive assistance under the McGovern-Dole Program. Without going into great detail here, I will just say that the country has to be very poor, uneducated and not in a civil war. Well, there can be some unrest in the country, just not enough to impede the program as it tries to feed the hungry people.

After reading about the McGovern-Dole Program, it sounds like a very beneficial strategy for some very needy people. We, as a country, are providing private volunteer organizations like World Vision with literally tons of food for places like Afghanistan. In addition to providing nutritional support, it is also promoting gender equality, something that is greatly needed in the Middle East.

But, here’s the catch. The U.S. spent $210 million for this program in 2010. That’s a lot of taxpayer money. One of the goals of this program is to build stable societies and increase national security. What do you think? Does providing food and education to foreign countries really do that?

I wish I had an answer. We know that more girls are going to school in Afghanistan than before. We know that 5 million meals have been provided to the African country of Mali. What we don’t know are the long-term effects of the program. But for now, there are people who have a belly full of good ‘ole American food. 

Unfortunately, there are also many Americans who have a belly full of taxes. Taxes that fund such initiatives like the McGovern-Dole Program. And that scenario is most assuredly going to be at the center of the upcoming election.