It is believed that more than 49 million people are food insecure in our nation – one in every six Americans. In California, almost 4 million people are food insecure, which means they could not afford enough food at least once in the previous year. As you can imagine, the hardest hit demographic is low-income households with children. In a bountiful state like California, this is unacceptable.
That’s why I’m asking farmers and ranchers to make a donation or a pledge during our annual Farm-to-Food Bank Month – December. More than 127 million pounds of food have been donated through this program to food banks so far this year, surpassing last year’s donations. The food went directly to individuals and families in need. As impressive a feat as that is, we still have some distance to go before reaching our goal of 200 million pounds by 2015.
Farmers and ranchers should feel free to post a pledge here in the CDFA Planting Seeds Blog comments section and then contact Steve Linkhart of the California Association of Food Banks (CAFB) at 510-350-9916.
They are also invited to join me and the California State Board of Food and Agriculture as we hold CDFA’s annual donation event on December 10, 2013 at California Emergency Foodlink in Sacramento. This event will be held from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at California Emergency Foodlink, 5800 Foodlink Street, Sacramento, CA 95828. This is a partnership with CAFB’s Farm-to-Family Program, as well as Ag Against Hunger, Hidden Harvest, and the California Farm Bureau Federation’s Young Farmers and Ranchers Program.
Feeding people is what Ag does, and we’re already doing a lot for our neediest citizens. But there is much more hunger out there, and I hope our farmers and ranchers will join us as we work toward our ultimate goal of eliminating it altogether.