142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Farm Bill and U.S. food aid policy reforms: Their effects on global hunger, food security, and nutrition around the world

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Trisha Comsti, MPH candidate , Department of Global Health Systems and Development, Concentration: Program Design & Implementation, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA
  
ISSUES: Little known to many is that within the large much fought over "Farm Bill," the primary agricultural and food policy tool of U.S. domestic programs, is the fact that that nearly $1.5 billion in international humanitarian aid (in the form of food commodities from U.S. farmers) is also authorized in this bill. The U.S. donates more food aid to the rest of the world than any other country. The Farm that passed Congress just last week (after a multi-year fight on Capitol Hill) includes important reforms to U.S. food aid policy that will have lasting effects on hunger, food security, and malnutrition around the world.

DESCRIPTION: This is a review, discussion, and explanation of the history of international food aid policy and the potential effects and implications made by new changes to these decades-old policies governing U.S. food aid.

AREAS OF FOCUS: The review will focus on several areas: 1) The move away from monetization, a "wasteful" practice in many's eyes in which U.S. food commodities are sold in developing countries (potentially destabilizing local economies) and these monies in turned used to fund development programs; 2) The move towards buying more food commodities locally (where it is needed) to both help those in times of need (following an emergency or crisis) while simultaneously stimulating the local market and 3) The fight pre-Farm Bill approval among different agencies to move authorization of U.S. food aid out of the realm of the Farm Bill and U.S. agricultural interests

Learning Areas:

Other professions or practice related to public health
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Describe and discuss the implications of recent food aid reforms in the newly passed U.S. "Farm Bill" Describe the history of the current political fight to reform food aid Explain the history of U.S. food policy, with an emphasis on monetization policy and how it has been changed in the 2014 Farm Bill

Keyword(s): Food Security, Policy/Policy Development

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have several years of experience in the fields of communications and public policy related to public health and international development. Most recently, I worked in Washington, DC, advocating on behalf of international organizations working to fight hunger and malnutrition around the world. My advocacy efforts focused on securing additional funding and improved policies for U.S. food aid policies.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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