A Critical Time

The New York Times published an article on November 30th about the low stock on hand at America’s food banks. A combination of factors caused the situation. Farm commodity spending has been flat for 5 years while inflation has increased the cost of the food purchased. Donated food levels have declined due to belt tightening and production improvements by food manufacturers. Secondary buyers have purchased items to sell in discount stores that were previously donated. Increased fuel, medical and utilities have forced more people to seek help. Sadly, the Bay Area Food Bank is suffering worse shortages than those mentioned by food banks interviewed in the Times article.

Beginning in July, we started seeing distribution surpass arriving food by 100,000 pounds per month as our routine sources of food dried up. That was a 20% decline. We normally look to food sources within about 750 miles of the food bank to keep trucking costs low. Today we’re looking anywhere we can to find food. As a result, we expect our trucking costs to increase by as much as 50% compared to past years due to the combination of increased per-mile fees because of the rising cost of diesel and increased distance hauled to get the food to the warehouse. Even looking everywhere for food, we are still not finding enough.

One shot in the arm we need to help solve our ills resides in the 2007 Farm Bill which has been stalled in the Senate. Both the House version and the Senate version call for significant increases in funding, the first in 5 years, to help restore the volume of food being passed on to those in need. For the Bay Area Food Bank passage of either version would increase our food supply by 1 million pounds per year. Inaction on the part of the Senate or a Presidential veto that causes the funding bill to be pushed to 2008 essentially guarantees continued decline in commodities for another year at a time it is needed more than ever due to declines in the donated food stream.

In my seven plus years at the Food Bank we have always been in a position of seeing need and developing ways to increase support. Building the facility, adding trucks, and increasing the number of organizations we work with has helped us play catch-up with the level of service provided by well established food banks found in most major urban areas. This problem is different. We are now faced with the challenge of preserving the progress we have made. It will probably involve new ways of thinking and programs targeted to do the most good. It looks like 2008 will be a very interesting year.