No one, not one single human being, should be hungry in this country, this state, or this county. Yet, as we have heard many times in recent years, food pantries are serving more and more people who are in situations of food insecurity, defined as lacking access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their needs for an active and healthy life. Poverty, or living near the edge of poverty, is the major cause of hunger and food insecurity in the United States.
Many people and institutions eagerly and selflessly help by providing food to those in need. However, we shouldn’t ignore the root causes. Rather than simply caused by bad luck, or by the failing of an individual, food insecurity is a result of the failings of our political system. If we as a society truly want to “solve” hunger, it must be framed as a societal and political issue.
Food insecurity, and being hungry, means more than a lack of food. While each person and each situation is different, food insecurity can result in a loss of dignity and a sense of self-worth, making other aspects of living difficult. It can lead to long-term health issues and is especially dangerous for children as they grow and develop, affecting their ability to learn and often stealing their potential for a fulfilling life. It can lead to mental health issues, including depression. It can mean that families must make difficult choices as they are forced to choose between heat, electricity, rent, medications, and food.
Policies that would reduce the chances of anyone experiencing hunger are not radical, but are common sense to a caring society that recognizes food as a basic need, even a human right, and that the consequences of food insecurity ripple throughout a community.
Instead of relying on government programs for assistance, also known as ‘handouts,’ workers should get living wages, paid by their employer. Otherwise, many of our fellow community members are destined to be poor and to live with food insecurity, no matter how hard they work. The Federal minimum wage, and Iowa’s, at $7.25/hour has not been increased since 2009. An increase in the minimum wage would have a multiplying effect, raising other wages as well and putting more money into the local economy. Continuing the alarming trends already established, wealth inequalities increased dramatically in 2020. As reported by Forbes, “roughly 650 billionaires in America saw their net worth increase by more than $1 trillion . . . and they’re now worth more than $4 trillion.” Many large corporations have also reported increasing profits.
Working conditions, and job stability, also affect food security. Both Republicans and Democrats have been finding ways to weaken labor unions for decades. The recent decision by Congress to prohibit railroad workers from going on strike, their only effective tool to pressure employers to provide decent work policies, is a concern of all workers in this country. The railroaders had been demanding paid sick days, especially important for the health and well-being of themselves, their families, and their communities.
The United States is still the only country in the developed world without a system of universal health care, yet we spend the most money, by far. A lack of health insurance that adequately covers both medical and mental health expenses can send an individual or family into a dire financial situation, again, affecting food security.
Affordable, and even free, day care for families with young children and elder care for those at the other end of the age spectrum are other components of a political system that aims to reduce poverty.
And, we cannot forget agriculture policy and its role in food insecurity and hunger. An agri-food system in which 23 million acres of fertile Iowa farmland are used to grow animal feed and biofuels while most of the foods we consume are produced, processed, packaged, distributed, and transported over hundreds and even thousands of miles in a complex global network is unsustainable and has increased global food insecurity.
As revealed during the early days of the pandemic, this globalized, market-based system is dangerously fragile in the face of natural and human-made disruptions and will certainly happen again. Policies based on parity, similar to those implemented as a result of the environmental and human crises of the Great Depression, would fundamentally change this system. As with living wages, these policies are not based on government payments, but on parity prices paid to the farmer by the corporate buyer of the products, and would support farmers and communities in developing local and regional systems producing healthy foods.
These are doable policy changes (and there are others), but neither political party will act unless enough people speak up and demand changes. The hungry eyes and the painful cries of a child are unseen and unheard by most of us, but we know they exist. That knowledge should be enough to convince us to demand political change.
Patti Naylor
Churdan, Iowa
Patti participates through civil society at the United Nations Committee on World Food Security.
