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COMMODITIES

US commodity boom hurts ood banks

AFP, Washington
Soaring commodity prices, while a boon to American farmers, have left US food banks scrambling for donations amid a spike in demand with the economic downturn forcing more people to their doors.
Food pantries and soup kitchens across America have had to dip deeper into their own pockets to make up for a drop in the meat, pasta and vegetables they get from a US government programme that buys surplus commodities.
"It's good that farmers are making money, but it’s just hurting us," said Ross Fraser, spokesman for America's Second Harvest, the country's largest hunger-relief organization.
The organization, whose network of more than 200 food banks distributes two billion pounds (910,000 tonnes) of food a year, relies heavily on surplus commodities that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) buys from farmers.
But the amount of available surplus commodities has dropped dramatically in recent years as farmers enjoy a boom in exports that have driven commodity prices higher.
Agricultural exports soared to 82 billion dollars last fiscal year from 62 billion dollars in 2004, according to USDA figures.
The USDA bought 240 million dollars worth of surplus, or bonus, commodities in 2004. The figure dropped to 67
million dollars last year. T he bonus is in addition to 140 million dollars the USDA gives to food banks every year.
"The reason that they're down, obviously, is that the farm market is doing very well," Nancy Johner, USDA's under secretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, told the Washington Post in December.
At America's Second Harvest, the 492 million pounds (225,000 tonnes) given by the USDA in 2002 represented 26 percent of all food distributed by the organization.
Last year, the USDA contribution dropped to 335 million pounds (150,000 tonnes), or 16 percent of its food source.
Other sources include donations from grocery wholesalers and food manufacturers. But they are not enough to make up for the loss of bonus commodities.
Increasing numbers of the 200 members of America's Second Harvest are spending more than 100,000 dollars a month in food purchases, * from just nine members in 2000 to 26 in 2006, according to organization figures.
In 2000, its food banks spent a total of 81 million dollars to buy food and the figure mushroomed to 127 million dollars in 2006.
As they struggle to make up for a donation shortfall, food banks have seen a surge in demand as the struggling US economy, hammered by soaring fuel prices and a mortgage crisis, is forcing more people to
seek handouts.
Food banks across the country are seeing 20 percent more people at their food pantries and soup kitchens than last year, according to America's Second Harvest.
"We're seeing new faces at the soup kitchens and the food pantries we serve that we haven't seen before," Fraser said.
The Capital Area Food Bank, a network serving Washington and its suburbs, said its members have had to find creative ways to make up for the shortfall in foods such as frozen salmon, turkey roast and green beans that they used to get from the USDA.
One Washington church has been stretched thin by a 65
percent increase in needy clients and the drop in stock, said Marian Peele, the organization's director of agency relations.
"Volunteers really want to cut off adding more new clients because it's such a drain on their budget," she said.
Some organizations are going to the Capital Area Food
Bank only once a week instead of twice to cut back on fuel costs, she said. A rehab centre has been using more processed foods and less nutritious products in their meals._ Others are serving less food, cutting back on packages.
“The bonus (commodities) really was our bread and butter," she said.