# How do I get my hands on some gov't subsidized food? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143 "2007-01-30T18:08:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/1 "2007-01-30T18:08:28Z")
I have a potential father-in-law who runs a medium-scale charity organization. He (a surgeon) takes a team of mostly doctors to third-world countries and dispenses medicine, medical training, and humanitarian supplies like clothing and food. All of his supplies are either donated or bought with money he and his organization have raised. But he always has trouble getting enough food. I’ve been thinking: the US government has a controversial policy of subsidizing agriculture. Granted–much of the government aid is in the form of low-interest loans. But there is still a substantial amount of aid in the form of guaranteed prices. I.e. if a farmer can’t find a buyer for his crop at a certain price, the government is required to swoop in and buy it from him at said price. I’ve heard tales (no cite) of huge government-owned grain silos full to the brim with food that will never be eaten. So is there any way that private charities can get their hands on this food? Even mostly-unprocessed food would work. I’ve looked through the [USDA’s](http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome) and the [FSA’s](http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=cops&topic=landing) websites to no avail. Any doper tips? PS: I’ve been reading Cecil for years and following this board for months. This is my first post though. Please be gentle with me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/2 "2007-01-30T19:53:06Z")
Well, some of it is distributed by the government to the poor in the US. For instance, if you’ve ever heard of “Government cheese”, that’s one example of a foodstuff made from the subsidized farm production. I don’t know what the situation is for grains, though. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/3 "2007-01-30T19:55:36Z")
Is the gov’t really gonna be all that keen on you taking subsidized food out of the country though? ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/4 "2007-01-30T20:17:27Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P] Is the gov’t really gonna be all that keen on you taking subsidized food out of the country though? [/QUOTE] The US government [loves](http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty/FoodDumping/FoodFirst/Consequence3.asp) dumping its excess food overseas. Not much else to do with it. [QUOTE=Chronos] Well, some of it is distributed by the government to the poor in the US. For instance, if you’ve ever heard of “Government cheese”, that’s one example of a foodstuff made from the subsidized farm production. I don’t know what the situation is for grains, though. [/QUOTE] Yeah! That! How does a private charity get some of that? The Ukranian children (from aforementioned charity’s next mission) want to know! (By the way, [this](http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty/FoodDumping/USAid.asp) is a pretty good site for an overview on the issue of food-as-foreign-aid in the US.) ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/5 "2007-01-30T20:22:01Z")
> [@](#): > > As of 2006, the USDA provides a subsidized food program for specific classes of foods in the United States known as the Women, Infants and Children program. Source: [Government cheese - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_cheese) USDA WIC Program —\> [WIC: USDA's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children | Food and Nutrition Administration](http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/) ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/6 "2007-01-30T20:28:55Z")
[QUOTE=Duckster] Source: [Government cheese - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_cheese) USDA WIC Program —\> [WIC: USDA's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children | Food and Nutrition Administration](http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/) [/QUOTE] Thanks for the link! Unfortunately… > [@](#): > > The WIC Program is designed to serve certain categories of women, infants, and children. Therefore, the following individuals are considered categorically eligible for WIC: > > Women – pregnant (during pregnancy and up to 6 weeks > after the birth of an infant or the end of the > pregnancy) > – postpartum (up to six months after the birth of > the infant or the end of the pregnancy) > – breastfeeding (up to the infant’s first birthday) > Infants (up to the infant’s first birthday) > Children (up to the child’s fifth birthday) > > Residential Requirement > Applicants must live in the State in which they apply. Applicants served in areas where WIC is administered by an Indian Tribal Organization (ITO) must meet residency requirements established by the ITO. At State agency option, applicants may be required to live in a local service area and apply at a WIC clinic that serves that area. [link](http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/howtoapply/eligibilityrequirements.htm) …but this does give me hope that there ARE programs like this out there that might be able to help us. Anyone know of anything else? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/7 "2007-01-31T00:47:48Z")
Slightly off-topic, but related: Can poor **men** who are single parents of children under five years old qualify for WIC? ---
**Author:** ![Impounded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Impounded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Impounded)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/8 "2007-01-31T00:51:25Z")
WIC is a good program but SO badly administered. I have known at least 10 women on WIC and they get SO MUCH food they can’t eat it. So I took a bunch of it. The program has merit but the administration is so bad. To dump so much food on a person who’ll never eat it is just wrongly believing you’re doing good when you aren’t As for government giving farmer’s aid, I see why they do it, it is in the national interest to make sure that we have food. I mean if a country imports alot of it’s food then a war breaks out it is at the mercy of those it’s importing food. We need to be able to grow and harvest food at a moment’s notice for our own security. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/9 "2007-01-31T01:55:36Z")
[QUOTE=Impounded] WIC is a good program but SO badly administered. I have known at least 10 women on WIC and they get SO MUCH food they can’t eat it. So I took a bunch of it. The program has merit but the administration is so bad. To dump so much food on a person who’ll never eat it is just wrongly believing you’re doing good when you aren’t. [/QUOTE] Some of that has to do with the way the food is packaged & stored. For example, a divorced mother with kids who rented our arena to give riding lessons got some of this food. The government cheese was actually pretty good, but it came in 10-pound blocks! Every month! That’s a lot of cheese for a mother & 3 small kids to eat, and it gets pretty boring. She ended up trading some of the cheese to my mother for home-canned vegetables and some meat when we butchered. Then my mom made macaroni-and-cheese & potatoes au gratin for us kids and the farm help, and we ate it up. A lot of this ended up in bulk kitchens, like school hot-lunch programs, etc., so a big size like a 10-pound block was efficient. But it was excessive for a normal mother and kids. And the ‘regulations’ prohibited the local distribution points from splitting this up into smaller packages (possibly health code requirements). But the end result could be a family with a refrigerator full of blocks of cheese, but no vegetables, fruit, or meat. Not a healthy diet. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/10 "2007-01-31T19:58:50Z")
I’m gonna bump this up in the interest of saving children in third world countries. I promise I won’t bump it again. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/11 "2007-01-31T22:41:44Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] Slightly off-topic, but related: Can poor **men** who are single parents of children under five years old qualify for WIC? [/QUOTE] If the father’s household meets the requirements, and has a child under five, the child will qualify for WIC. It’s called Women Infants and Children because some pregnant women and some new mothers are eligible for their own assistance even if the household doesn’t have a child in it (yet). If a mom has a two year old and a six year old, only the two year old will receive WIC. The woman and older child won’t be eligible. ---
**Author:** ![Renob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/12 "2007-01-31T22:43:42Z")
Talk to your Congressman or Senator. They can look into this for you and possibly put some pressure on the executive branch to help you out. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/13 "2007-01-31T22:57:10Z")
[QUOTE=Renob] Talk to your Congressman or Senator. They can look into this for you and possibly put some pressure on the executive branch to help you out. [/QUOTE] I feel like a complete moron saying this, but I never thought of that. Seriously. Whenever I write to my congressman, it’s always to express a viewpoint or argument. I’ve never thought to _ask_ for something. Think it would work? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/14 "2007-01-31T23:02:02Z")
[QUOTE=Randy Seltzer] I’m gonna bump this up in the interest of saving children in third world countries. I promise I won’t bump it again. [/QUOTE] You said you looked at the USDA site. Did you find this page? [USDA Food Aid Programs](http://www.fas.usda.gov/info/factsheets/foodaid.asp) A couple of these seem like possibilities: > [@](#): > > P.L. 480, Title II–Emergency and Private Assistance, provides for the donation of U.S. agricultural commodities to meet emergency and nonemergency food needs in other countries, including support for food security goals. > > Agricultural commodities donated by the U.S. government to meet emergency needs may be provided under government-to-government agreements or through public and private agencies, including inter-governmental organizations, such as the United Nations World Food Program and other multilateral organizations. **Nonemergency assistance may only be provided through private voluntary organizations,** cooperatives, and intergovernmental organizations. > [@](#): > > The Section 416(b) program is authorized by the Agricultural Act of 1949, as amended. This program provides for overseas donations of surplus commodities acquired by the CCC. Donations may not reduce the amounts of commodities that are traditionally donated to U.S. domestic feeding programs or agencies, and may not disrupt normal commercial sales. > > Availability of commodities under Section 416(b) depends on CCC inventories and acquisitions, and programming varies from year to year. The commodities are made available for donation through agreements with foreign governments, **private voluntary organizations,** cooperatives, and intergovernmental organizations. Bolding mine. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/15 "2007-01-31T23:06:30Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] Slightly off-topic, but related: Can poor **men** who are single parents of children under five years old qualify for WIC? [/QUOTE] I know of a case in Chicago like that - man was left with five children to raise, including an infant. HE did not qualify for WIC, but some of the _children_ did, and of course as his guardian got the food on their behalf. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/16 "2007-02-01T00:23:31Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] You said you looked at the USDA site. Did you find this page? [/QUOTE] NO! It’s exactly what I was looking for! I don’t know how I missed it, but it’s perfect. Thanks **Colibri**! You’re the best. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/17 "2007-02-01T02:07:29Z")
[QUOTE=Randy Seltzer] NO! It’s exactly what I was looking for! I don’t know how I missed it, but it’s perfect. Thanks **Colibri**! You’re the best. [/QUOTE] You’re very welcome. It’s a good cause; best of luck with it. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/18 "2007-02-01T04:05:34Z")
[QUOTE=Randy Seltzer] Think it would work? [/QUOTE] Depends. Who is your congresscritter? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/19 "2007-02-01T05:53:26Z")
His best bet is to connect with an NGO distributing food aid in the country he will be working in. He can find out which NGOs are active by going to [www.usaid.gov](http://www.usaid.gov) and selecting country locator (the map on the right). There, he should find a list of what NGOs are working in the country and what they are doing. Based on the description, he can then make contact with their office in the host country, or with their office in the US (often in Washington, DC). For the most part, NGOs are happy to meet with colleagues and share info and ideas. If they can’t provide you with donated food directly, they should be able to point you in the right direction. Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143/20 "2007-02-01T06:30:45Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > Who is your congresscritter? The critter in question would be the delegation from California. I’m not from California myself, so I don’t really know the politics. (Not that non-residence is any excuse _shame_.) > [@madmonk28](#): > > His best bet is to connect with an NGO distributing food aid in the country he will be working in. He can find out which NGOs are active by going to [www.usaid.gov](http://www.usaid.gov) and selecting country locator (the map on the right). > > There, he should find a list of what NGOs are working in the country and what they are doing. Based on the description, he can then make contact with their office in the host country, or with their office in the US (often in Washington, DC). For the most part, NGOs are happy to meet with colleagues and share info and ideas. If they can’t provide you with donated food directly, they should be able to point you in the right direction. Good luck. That’s another awesome idea. Thanks for the resource! Unfortunately, I’m not sure it will work in this specific case, because they do lots of missions, and it’s a different country each time. What they could really use is a steady supply of donatable food. But it might be worth a shot, no? Thanks again everyone for your ideas! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-my-hands-on-some-govt-subsidized-food/390143.md?page=2)