Foodlinks America - February 15, 2008
Foodlinks America - February 15, 2008
In this issue:
• Negotiations Intensify as Farm Bill Deadline Approaches
• Bush Budget for 2009 Reiterates Nutrition Cuts
• Economic Plan Will Not Stimulate Food Relief
• Efficacy of Ethanol Questioned in New Studies
• Obesity Round-Up
• Reports from the Field
• Small Bites
Foodlinks America is published 24 times a year by California Emergency Foodlink in Sacramento, CA and distributed by Weinberg & Vauthier Consulting, 6412 CR 116, Burnet, TX 78611; Zy Weinberg and Barbara Vauthier, Editors; email: bvauthier@tefapalliance.org.
Foodlinks America is not copyrighted, so the information can be freely shared with colleagues and friends, though attribution for reprinted articles is appreciated. For archived issues of Foodlinks America, go to: www.tefapalliance.org. To request a free subscription to the newsletter or to submit story ideas, contact Barbara Vauthier at: bvauthier@tefapalliance.org.
Negotiations Intensify as Farm Bill Deadline Approaches
The Bush Administration and the House Agriculture Committee reached a tentative agreement on February 13, 2008 on the outline of a new Farm Bill that would increase spending by $6 billion over the next ten years. However, the pact ran into immediate criticism from Senators and farm interests lobbying the legislation.
A “Farm Bill Spending Framework” released on February 14 by House Agriculture Committee chair Collin Peterson (D-MN) and the panel’s top Republican, Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, would limit subsidy payments and provide additional funds without raising taxes, two changes demanded by President Bush to avoid a veto. “We’re stuck because there is no agreement about how much money we can spend,” said Peterson. “Until we get that done, we can’t move forward.”
The Senate’s reception to the House scheme was a cool one. “This outline is provided as a basis for further collaborative work and negotiation,” commented Tome Harkin (D-IA), chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, “and that’s the spirit in which it should be received and judged here in the Senate, where of course we have our own perspectives.” Even Republicans were hesitant to endorse the proffered compromise. The House framework “leaves a lot to be desired,” said Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), a senior member of the Agriculture Committee. “It leaves out many priorities important to farmers, let alone the Senate,” Grassley added.
Although the newly-installed Secretary of Agriculture, Ed Schafer, said “We are pleased with our progress on budget issues” adding that $6 billion “is a number we can support,” Senator Harkin remained skeptical of the Administration’s commitment to sealing a deal. “The White House is still withholding the cooperation – particularly on obtaining funding – that we must have to complete a new Farm Bill,” Harkin stated. “So I urge President Bush to lay aside veto threats and work with us so we can get this job done.”
Many hurdles remain in finalizing a new Farm Bill. Even if the House framework, which provided no specific information on the fate of nutrition programs, is ultimately accepted in both chambers, details of the $286 billion legislation must still be hammered out by a conference committee. And though Senate conferees were named on February 6, the House has not yet selected Members to reconcile Farm Bill provisions with the Senate.
The current extension of the 2002 Farm Bill expires on March 15, 2008. “Time is running short,” as the House framework document notes. In order to meet the looming deadline, “it is absolutely necessary to reach an agreement on funding before the Congress leaves for the President’s Day recess.” It appears that negotiators will miss that target date; the week-long President’s Day recess begins February 15.
Bush Budget for 2009 Reiterates Nutrition Cuts
President George Bush submitted his fiscal year 2009 budget to Congress on February 4, 2007, but the $3.1 trillion plan, with record military spending – not counting funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – probably will not advance very far. Many of the proposals, including cuts in nutrition assistance programs, have been made and rejected before.
“Parts of it are dead on arrival,” commented Senate Finance Committee chair Max Baucus (D-MT). In the realm of food programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the budget, for the fourth year in a row, proposes to cut an estimated 300,000 people in low-income working families with children from the Food Stamp Program. The budget also fails to fund key food stamp improvements included in the pending Farm Bill. Proposed funding provided for the WIC Program is not enough to meet expected caseload needs.
For the third year in a row, the budget outline recommends the elimination of the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), which provides nutritious commodity foods to more than 470,000 low-income elderly and women and children. Congress has previously ignored this proposal and instead increased funding for the program.
Even Republicans were realistic about the future of the Administration’s proposals. “Let’s face it,” said Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), the ranking minority member of the Senate Budget Committee. “This budget is done with the understanding that nobody’s going to be taking a long, hard look at it.”
Economic Plan Will Not Stimulate Food Relief
Congress endorsed an economic stimulus plan on February 7, 2007 that it hopes will stave off a nationwide recession. However, several provisions that had been proposed to directly help the poorest Americans – a temporary increase in food stamp benefits, an infusion of federal commodities for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), an extension of unemployment benefits, and increased funding for home heating assistance – were not included in the final package.
The core of the $168 billion plan is rebates for tax payers. Individuals earning up to $75,000 last year will receive a $600 rebate, couples earning up to $150,000 will get a check for $1,200 plus $300 for each child. Due to the insistence of Senate Democrats, Social Security recipients, disabled veterans, and veterans’ widows will receive $300 each, if their benefits, disability payments, and earned income totaled more than $3,000 last year, even if they did not pay taxes. Rebate checks are expected to be sent in May.
Although numerous economists stated that increased food stamp and unemployment benefits would be the most expeditious and effective ways to boost the economy, such options were not considered. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) reportedly had a proposal ready to increase food stamp allotments for six months, but it never came up for a vote, as the Senate fell one vote short of the 60 needed to debate a more generous Democratic stimulus package.
The final legislation was approved overwhelmingly, by a vote of 380 to 34 in the House and 81 to 16 in the Senate, but not without some dissent. Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) vowed to keep fighting for heating aid. “What’s most important is that we do not suspend our efforts to provide relief to the unemployed and heating assistance to low-income families,” she said. “The work of the United States Congress is far from over.”
Others were irked that the Congress ignored its own “paygo” rules requiring a budget offset for the new spending, which will be added to the burgeoning federal debt. “Where’s the money coming from?” asked Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK). “Is there another way we can stimulate our economy without stealing from our kids?”
Efficacy of Ethanol Questioned in New Studies
Increased use of ethanol and other plant-based fuels may have a net negative effect on the environment, according to two studies released this month. Although biofuels are supposed to reduce global warming, new detailed and comprehensive analyses of their production that includes the conversion of rainforests and grasslands to crops, show they would create more greenhouse gas emissions than the conventional fossil fuels they are designed to replace.
A study published in the journal Science on February 7, 2008 found that ethanol would almost double greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades if the destruction of carbon-absorbing plant life is added in. “When you take this into account, most of the biofuel that people are using or planning to use would probably increase greenhouse gases substantially,” said Timothy Searchinger, a Princeton University researcher and lead author of the study. “Anything that’s going to make global warming worse over the next 30 years is not something you want to do, even if over the long run it does something better,” he added.
The second study, conducted by the University of Minnesota and the Nature Conservancy, examined the greenhouse gas impacts of converting different types of land to ethanol-producing crops like corn and sugar cane. The study found that in almost all cases, biofuel production resulted in higher carbon emissions. For example, converting rainforests to palm oil – a key ingredient in biodiesel – would release 420 times more carbon dioxide than the petroleum diesel it is replacing. Among crops used for ethanol, only switchgrass would result in a net savings in greenhouse gases, although biofuels can be made from inputs that require no additional agricultural land, like crop wastes or even municipal garbage.
Moreover, the distribution of ethanol to American motorists remains problematic and recent mandates in the newly-passed energy bill may not be met, worries the chair of the Senate Energy Committee. “While it appears likely that there will be enough ethanol and biodiesel production capacity to meet the requirement [of 36 billion gallons annually by 2022], it is not clear how all this biofuel will find its way into the fuel tanks of our cars and trucks,” said Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM).
The distribution system for ethanol is inadequate. It cannot be channeled through existing gasoline pipelines, and must be transported by rail, barge, or truck. Additionally, very few service stations sell ethanol to the public. Bingaman claimed the biofuel industry “will be tarnished” if the government requirements cannot be met “while maintaining food and fuel prices that consumers can afford.”
Obesity Round-Up
Obesity trumps health in lifetime medical costs: Obesity and smoking prevention may save lives, but it does not necessarily save money. Those are the findings of a newly released Dutch study which concluded that it costs more to care for healthy people who live longer than to cover the medical costs associated with overweight or smoking.
“It was a small surprise,” said Pieter van Baal, an economist with the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, who led the research. “But it also makes sense,” he noted. “If you live longer, then you cost the health care system more.” The study, titled “Lifetime Medical Costs of Obesity: Prevention No Cure for Increasing Health Expenditure,” appeared in the latest Public Library of Science Medical Journal.
Researchers found that from age 20 to 56, obese people had more expensive health care costs than healthy people. But because both obese people and smokers died earlier than healthy subjects, it cost less to treat them in the long run. For further information, see study results at: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv…=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050029.
Food insecurity-obesity link challenged: The frequent assumption that low-income children are more likely to be overweight or obese has been challenged by new research findings. Iowa State University investigators analyzed 1999 data for more than 1,000 children in low-income households in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio and found no correlation between the eight percent of children who were not getting enough to eat (i.e. food insecure) and the 50 percent who were overweight.
“[T]here were no significant differences in the prevalence of at risk of overweight and overweight between food secure and food insecure children,” according to the study, which appeared in the February 2008 issue of the Journal of Nutrition. Analysis by gender, race, and income all showed similar patterns. “Additional research is needed to explore the potential relationships between food insecurity and overweight and to better inform policy that attempts to address these issues,” concluded the authors. For details, see: http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/138/2/371.
Breast cancer aggravated by weight gain: For women diagnosed with breast cancer, weight gains can be deadly. New research results show that for every 11 pounds a woman adds after being diagnosed with breast cancer, the death rate increases 14 percent. “There was a significant trend between increasing levels of weight gain and higher mortality,” Hazel Nichols, a researcher from Johns Hopkins University reported at the American Association of Cancer Research conference in Philadelphia in December 2007. “Lifestyle factors, the things you incorporate after a breast cancer diagnosis such as diet and exercise, do show potential to influence survival,” she added.
The research was based on data from over 4,000 women in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire diagnosed with cancer between 1998 and 2001. The link remained regardless of age, menopausal status, smoking, or the progression of the cancer. For women classified as obese, the death risk was more than double that of women of a normal body weight.
Reports from the Field
Poor people’s need for food and allied services continues to grow and overwhelm local agencies from coast to coast, as confirmed in this article from Westerly, Rhode Island, the appeared in The Westerly Sun on February 3, 2008:
Local social agencies – many connected to the Basic Needs Network – know the truth: many in South County are living in poverty.
Area churches, food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and non-municipal neighborhood social service agencies like the Bradford Jonnycake Center of Westerly and the Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center report that they are serving more clients than ever as the elderly, needy, infirm and working poor struggle to make ends meet.
Agency directors say that donations are down this time of year and budgets continue to shrink as many are suffering locally to pay for housing, food, clothing and fuel. And it’s area churches that, in large measure, are the ones reaching out.
“It could be any one of us… if you hit a rocky spot,” said Kathy Stedman of St. Andrews Church in Charlestown. “We could be the ones going to the food pantry for a while, too.” Stedman oversees the church’s personal needs closet and directs the Community Outreach Ministry. With help from local grants, the St. Andrews congregation funds its own programs for food and toiletries. Clients fill out a form or bring a referral from another agency in order to be eligible for access to the personal needs closet every other month. The food closet may be visited twice a month.
At Trinity Lutheran Church in Ashaway, volunteer Lea Rockholz said the number of clients has grown from 50 to 123 since November. Natalie Lawton, who runs the Living Supplies Closet at Christ Episcopal Church, said there has been a great increase in requests for assistance. “We had over a thousand individuals last year and over 2,000 family members. It’s the biggest year we’ve ever had,” she said.
Joseph DeSantis, chief executive officer of the South County Community Action Agency in Wakefield, said the state and federally-funded non-profit agreed that times are desperate for many. “Churches are really coming to the table and food banks all over Washington County are doing a good job, but quite frankly it’s entirely inadequate,” he said. “The need overwhelms the resources. I’ve been in this business for 35 years and I have not seen it this bad.”
DeSantis said his agency is seeing an unprecedented increase in calls for help and there’s no way to sugar coat it. “There’s no question about it – it’s the bleakest time for people trying to make ends meet – meeting the basic human needs. Some people who we’re providing fuel assistance to may not be out of fuel but they’re suffering,” he said. “They’re probably not getting proper nourishment or forsaking medications.”
South County Community Action aide Margaret McGovern said 1,725 families received heating assistance in 2007 and the number has grown again since the beginning of 2008. At the Westerly office of SCCA, Maria Cote, who handles emergency services, said that not only are there more heating assistance applications, but there’s an increase in working families trying to apply for food stamps – but without a state employee to help them. Due to layoffs at the state level, the eligibility worker who came to Westerly once a week for four hours to accept applications comes no longer, Cote said. “It’s causing a hardship for people at this end of the state because they have to go to North Kingstown or Warwick for help and often have no transportation,” she said. Doing it over the telephone is next to impossible, she added.
Meanwhile, the state Department of Human Services family and adult services administrator, Robert McDonough, said the demand for federal food stamps has gone up dramatically. “We’re at the highest level we’ve been at in about eight years,” he said. “It has risen steadily since 2001. We hope that low-income working people out there that are eligible will avail themselves of the program.”
Jonnycake Center executive director Annie Burns said the high demand for food and heating oil is unprecedented. “A lot of people have been laid off and they’re having a very difficult time. We tell them, ‘pay your bills and come in here for food.’ We try to help that way. Our case manager, Sue Robinson, is inundated with calls about fuel. We’re spending a lot of money on that.”
In 2006, the Jonnycake Center provided 69,678 meals to the needy. “We were still (located) in Bradford through May 2007 but the final count in 2007 was 111,204 equivalent meals served,” Burns said. “Our numbers since relocating (to Industrial Drive) are way up and we’re planning for the 175,000 range, which is about $75,000 worth of food between purchases and donations. We have already doubled our refrigerated space in the food pantry and have increased our shelving by one third.
Across the river at the Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center, director Vicky Anderson noted her agency has found that even families with partners working full- or part-time have seen costs for food and fuel spiking in such a way they couldn’t plan ahead to save enough money to cover those costs. She says the neighborhood center has a very large food pantry because her organization promotes the need for food all year long.
“There’s always a concern that one month suddenly people are going to say, ‘Well, everything must be fine,’” she said. “Right now we’re able to keep up with the demand for food because the public is so generous and I don’t know how they’re doing it, but they’re doing it.”
“Even though there’s just a little snow on the ground, there’s no promise that we’re not going to get a couple more snow falls,” she said. “March is cold and so is April. I can tell you without looking at the numbers; I think our clients are in dire straits,” DeSantis said.
“This isn’t just about people that are not working; it’s about people who are working,” he added. “It’s about people who are on fixed incomes. We’re seeing middle income people feeling the pinch. The quality of life is diminishing.”
Small Bites
The cold, hard facts: Americans spend over $7 billion annually on frozen prepared foods, including more than $1.2 billion for frozen Italian dinners, $508 million for frozen Mexican dinners, and $300 million for pot pies.
Our just deserts: More than $7 billion is also spent each year on ice cream and frozen deserts.
Five-a-day the cool way: Over $3 billion in frozen vegetables are sold annually in the U.S., along with $300 million in frozen fruit.
A growing culture: Yogurt sales in the U.S. have increased from 570 million pounds in 1978 to 2.5 billion pounds in 2003.
But not nearly as cultured as the Swedes: Americans’ consumption of seven pounds of yogurt per capita per year is a fraction of the 63 pounds per capita eaten in Sweden.
The morning sugar fix: The top five ready-to-eat breakfast cereals in America in 2003 were: Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, Honey Nut Cheerios, Honey Bunches of Oats, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
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