Food Bank Crisis Assignment 2022

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Food Bank Crisis
The evolution of food banks in the United States has been a cornerstone to food crisis
in the country. Initial strategy of the food banks, was to distribute food surplus to those who
could not afford it. However, the privatization of these services, and the merge by greedy
political and entrepreneurial mind-sets has caused a paradigm shift from their initial aim, of
helping the needy to a way of benefiting the stakeholders behind it.
Transitional change in food supply chains from industrial to retail has been one of the
reasons of disruption of food banks services. The increase in food distribution by retailers in
2008, for instance, showed how the food banks in rural areas became vulnerable in accessing
food surplus. Moreover, uneven retail locations in some states, for instance West Virginia has
negatively impacted food banks. Ironically, this is the state that requires a lot of assistance, as
evident by the statistical high unemployment rate and low income per capita. The capitalism
spirit in the US states is directly proportional to the rate of food security. Better-off counties
prove to attract more volunteers compared to struggling ones, which is hypocritical,
considering the number of needy individuals is low. The US government has done much less
to solve these crises. . For instance, the food banks mainly rely on TEFAP in order to operate,
yet the government’s funding is much less compared to the required expenditure.
Furthermore, the increase in job layoffs also shows the government’s ignorance in ensuring
food security.

FOOD BANK CRISIS 2
Is working for these institutions worth the price? Not all are satisfied by the food
banks services. The ideology of consuming discarded food lays in the mind of this changing
generation, which view bank food as junk. Additionally, organizational upheavals, for
instance, FA is clearly shown as they require food banks to pay them annually for
membership fee, so as to be privileged in accessing food products. Evidently, the food banks
currently is not only conducted for the poor alone, but entirely for the agriculture industry,
which benefit from unequal development (Lohnes and Wilson). Sadly, as these food
industries thrive to produce surplus, the lack of resources proves to hinder food dissemination
to the needy.
Despite the good will of food banks in the past, the hunger relief has not only
provided a positive impact but also has cause negative implications. Statistically, the amount
of relief food has increased over the years. This shows how the government has failed to
regulate poverty rate in the United States. The everlasting solution is finding a solution to
reduce the number of the poor who rely on food banks, rather than increasing the amount of
food production by agro-industries. It is not only the volunteers who can steer this change,
but the entire state system. Food banks has helped a lot of people around the globe, but unless
a permanent solution is found, food security will always be an illusion.
Questions
How will this generation cope with the changing moral values in our contemporary society,
which view bank food as free food and for the poor?
What must our political systems do to find a remedy of unemployment and food insecurity?
Can retailer integration merged with political laws on agro-industrialization bring a long
lasting solution on food bank crisis?
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