Food Stamp Use Hits Record

The Food Stamp program is administered by the USDA.  It is probably no surprise that use has increased dramatically as unemployment stays high over an extended period.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack recently spoke to NPR's Michelle Martin about a wide range of issues, including the department's local farming initiative.  

The two programs should go hand-in-hand.  If the premise that long-chain food distribution is more costly and inefficient than it should be, would that not also be the case with respect to the Food Stamp program?  Perhaps as the local food distribution movement gains traction it will become obvious that to work best, all programs that deal with food security within U.S. borders should be integrated into the local food distribution paradigm.  It is appropriate for the Federal government to deal with food security issues on a global scale, but they should do everything possible to get local with every aspect of food distribution in this country.