Milling & Baking News - December 28, 2021 - 22

ROBERT AND ELIZABETH DOLE ARCHIVE AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND PAUL MORIGI
SOSLAND PUBLISHING
years
TUES | 12 28 2021
international food assistance, Mr. Dole
said, " We cannot feed the entire world -
there is simply not enough food available
here to feed all who are hungry worldwide
- but we can help needy nations throughout
the world increase yields and feed
themselves. By sharing not only our food
but also our science and expertise, we help
foreign nations feed themselves and further
close the gap between those who are
fed and those who remain hungry. "
Sharing US farming expertise and
technology was especially important to
Mr. Dole, who in 1966 drafted legislation
that called for a " Bread and Butter Corps, "
which later became the Farmer-to-Farmer
program, which continues to this day.
Sitting in on the White House meeting
when Mr. Dole and Mr. McGovern made
their pitch for an international school
feeding program to President Clinton
was then Secretary of Agriculture Dan
Glickman, who oversaw the US Department
of Agriculture's food assistance
operations including commodity purchases
for donation abroad. Mr. Glickman
said it was no mistake that Mr. Dole
and Mr. McGovern jointly promoted the
initiative as there has been a bipartisan
foundation to all US international food
aid programs.
Mr. Glickman told Milling & Baking
News he was confident food assistance will
remain an essential component in US foreign
policy.
" Congress and administrations of both
parties have supported food and
nutrition assistance for many years,
both bilaterally and through the UN
World Food Programme, "
Mr. Glickman said.
" The United States is the largest
donor to the WFP, and I expect that
support to continue, " Mr. Glickman
said.
" The humanitarian challenges to
food security, affected by climate change,
weather variability and political conflicts,
are likely to continue, and thus I would
expect US food assistance will continue
to be a high priority as part of our US foreign
assistance programs, " Mr. Glickman
asserted. " I should note that in these days
of a highly toxic political environment in
Washington, global food and nutrition
assistance continues to enjoy strong bipartisan
support. "
Mr. Glickman currently is a senior
counselor and chair of the International
Advisory Board at APCO Worldwide
and is a longtime board member and
now a lead director of the Chicago Mercantile
Exchange (CME Group). He is a
distinguished fellow in Global Food and
Agriculture at The Chicago Council on
Global Affairs and an adjunct professor
at Tufts University's Friedman School of
Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston.
Mr. Glickman long has been engaged
in promoting bipartisanship in the US
Congress, retiring as vice president
of the Aspen Institute and executive
Glickman
director of its Congressional Program in
early 2021 after 10 years. Before serving as
secretary of agriculture from March 1995
until January 2001, he represented the 4th
Congressional District of Kansas in the US
House of Representatives for 18 years.
" Traditionally our food aid programs
provided direct commodity assistance to
needy people, " Mr. Glickman said. " But
while I expect that commodity assistance
to continue, I believe that more assistance
will be in the form of cash assistance,
where the recipients can either
purchase the food locally, or source it
locally. Local conditions in those countries
need this added flexibility, and
this is a trend I expect to continue, so
there will be a combination of cash and
commodity assistance in the future. The
key is flexibility, as there is no one size
fits all in how food assistance is distributed.
The US government has worked
closely with the NGO (non-governmental
organization) community, the WFP, and
where possible, foreign governments in
distribution efforts, particularly in high
conflict regions. "
Mr. Glickman added, " I also expect
Senators Bob Dole, left, and George McGovern at US Senate hearings on the School Feeding
Program in 2000.
22
MILLING & BAKING NEWS
there will be much more attention to
issues of nutrition security, diet, health
and disease, which have not been the top
priority of our commodity assistance
programs in the past. I can't overstate the
importance of nutrition and health, in
addition to supplying US-grown commodities.
This is a major domestic and global
trend, and we need to be doing much more
research into the types of commodities
and food products that help promote good
health and prevent disease. " MBN
bakingbusiness.com
http://www.bakingbusiness.com
Milling & Baking News - December 28, 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Milling & Baking News - December 28, 2021
