The Senate version of the Farm Bill passed on Thursday with the tiniest of nods to gleaning, or food recovery.
While there’s no joy in seeing cuts in per-family food assistance, there’s a glimmer of hope that this next Farm Bill would include a microloan program for food rescue groups. This amendment proposed by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) was part of the bill that passed today.
The amendment uses the term ‘gleaning’ synonymously with food recovery. The question remains whether this amendment can be recovered after the House proposes their own farm bill in July.
Few really know what will be in that House version, but I’m hopeful that the idea of recovering food that would otherwise be tossed is a bipartisan one. And since the amendment would merely have the government support a microloan program, it wouldn’t add much to the bottom line of what is now a $1 trillion dollar bill.
If we’re going to cut food assistance in a time when food prices are increasing and jobs are scarce, the least we could do is support non-profits that are preventing food from being trashed and getting it to those in need. Seems pretty simple.
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