The 2008 Farm Bill conference agreement makes numerous improvements in domestic food assistance programs to help low-income Americans put food on the table in the face of rising food and fuel prices.

This report features state-by-state data on some of these improvements, including the dollar value of additional benefits and the number of people who would benefit.

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2008 – Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced USDA’s plan to purchase up to $50 million of pork products which will be donated to child nutrition and other domestic food assistance programs.

A number of state and local anti-hunger advocates have been able to get their utility companies to help with summer food outreach. They work directly with their utility companies to get them to include the information in the bills they send out. If you are thinking about taking this approach, you should contact the utility company as soon as possible.

Food prices are way up – more than 5% in the past 3 months alone. For many of the 28 million people on food stamps, that means empty fridges. Advocates say Washington needs to step in.

CNN

International Falls Hunger Coalition reported that 44 more households visited the food shelf in the first three months of 2008 compared to the same time period in 2007, representing an increase of 11 percent.

Food inflation hit 4 percent last year, up from 2.4 percent in 2006. While beef prices already were high, chicken and pork prices didn’t reflect record costs for feed and fuel. That’s poised to change as chicken and pig producers who have been losing money slaughter more animals.

High prices for American food are likely here to stay, but the worrisome rate of inflation is expected to level off over the next few years, a top Department of Agriculture economist told lawmakers yesterday.

“My own view is this will moderate,” the agency’s chief economist, Joseph Glauber, said at a hearing called by Senator Schumer to examine the rising cost of food.

Because of the current economics of food, and changes in federal farm subsidy programs designed to make farmers rely more on the markets, large U.S. reserves may be gone for a long time.

The upshot: USDA has almost no extra food to supplement the billions in cash payments it spends to combat hunger at home and in developing nations.

About 1,200 people lined up in Spring Valley, Wis., on Tuesday for 30,000 pounds of surplus food and cleaning supplies distributed by the Hunger Prevention Council of Pierce County. The long line mirrored a deepening trend across the region: People are having trouble keeping food on the table.

Pioneer Press