News

Fighting rural hunger

‘Invest an Acre,’ a program where farmers can invest a portion of their harvest to support their local food bank has received a boost from Monsanto Company.

Monsanto is partnering with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Archer Daniels Midland and Feeding America in the program by matching contributions of U.S. farmers.

“We know that one of the most compelling ways to get people to donate is by providing more leverage for their gift, in terms of providing more meals for hungry Americans,” said Maura Daly with Feeding America. “We were thrilled that Monsanto was interested in matching every dollar that farmers donate, up to $3 million over the next several years.”

Daly says the summer’s drought, coming at the same time ‘Invest and Acre’ was being launched has been challenging, but they’re encouraged by what they are hearing.

“We have seen a lot of support from farmers in communities across the country and we’ve heard that many farmers are planning to participate yet this calendar year,” Daly said. “We also knew when we started this program it’s not something that would develop overnight, which is why we’ve taken a long term view.”

The fact remains, hunger in rural America continues to grow, with 15 percent of rural households regularly without food.

“One of the misnomers about hunger is that it’s not in my community, not in my backyard,” said Daly. “The reality is that more than half the counties in America with the highest rates of food insecurity or hunger are actually rural counties, this program is really intended to help mobilize farmers to feed people right in their backyard.”

Audio: Maura Daly, Feeding America (3:40 mp3)