*'04, USDA had 15 food assistance programs @ cost of $46.6 billion

*Some 33 million in U.S. are food insecure

*34% of women & 28% of men in U.S. are obese

*65% of U.S. men/women are overweight

*12% hosueholds below poverty line had adquate nutrition

*Started in '64 by Kennedy Admin.

*Run by USDA

*Increases nutritional value of recipients' food by 20-40%

*Entirely funded by fed. govt but 50% admin cost pd by states

*Means test

*Recipients now rec. Electronic Benefit Transfer cards

*'04: 23 million participated @ cost of $26.4 billion (increase from 2000 @ 17 million)

*Only approx. 50% of eligible rec. benes

*In '03 avg. household w/children rcv'd $242/mo. while avg. bene for all households was $163/mo.

*'94-2000 decrease in recipients but after 2000 dramatic inc.

*Conservatives in Congress tried to convert to block grants to states where $ cld be spent for other state needs in '03.

*Started in '72 to provide nutritional counseling & foods to pregnant/breast-feeding women, infants, & young children at nutritional risk.

*Gives mothers food cards to redeem at grocery store/educates them in how to prevent nutritional deficits.

*Has means test but less restrictive than public assistance.

*In '03 WIC served 7.6 million women/children @ cost of $4.5 billion

*After School Programs

*Nat'l Hot Lunch Programs

*Meals on Wheels

Congregate Meal Dining in Sr. Centers

*80s were bad for farmers. in '85 alone, 3.8% went bankrupt.

*1982-1987 total # farms declined by 151,000

*Because of world-wide drought in 1987, there was a small come-back in U.S. farms.

*Dwindling Farms: There are 2.13 million farms left in U.S.

*'93-'97: mid-sized farms dropped by 74,440

*1930: 25% of pop. lived on farms. '04: 2%.

*Farm income: >50% of farm operators must work off the farm (80% had fullff-time jobs)

*The Graying of U.S. Farms: Approx. 50% farm operators will retire in next 10 yrs.

*Consolidation/Control: Big corp. have bought up many family farms. About 7% of U.S. farms rec. 60% of farm income. Top 10% of farm-subsidy recipients rec. 60% of the $.

Women Owners: Only 9% farm land owners are women

Crop Prices: Small farmers' share of profit drops ea. yr.

Rural Health: Numerous health risks in some farm areas: odors from factory farms, increased exposure to harmful bacteria, insecticides/chemicals. About 70% of all antibiotics sold in the US are fed to healthy farm animals that cause the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Farm subsidies: About 25% of all go to the largest 1% of producers

*3-5 million fw who leave homes to do migrant work

*Often living conditions are scandalous.

*About 2 million work yr-round in fields w/100,000 children

*Avg. wage $5.94/hr

*Few have benes

*61% live below poverty line.

*Gender disparity: women earn $2500-5000/yr; men $5000-7500/yr.

*FW exposed to pesticides, herbicides, fungicides.

*Avg. life expectancy 49 yrs.

*44% tested positive for TB

In '02, 61% of all FW were US born

*1960's

*Under leadership of Cesar Chavez,FW formed union

*Very effective fin getting higher wages & better living conditions for FW.

*At its height, over 120,000 members were in the union

*Due to political environment & internal conflict, dwindled to about 20,000 members today.