ABSTRACT
This chapter presents facts about various food aid programs, their costs, the number of people they serve, and controversial policy issues surrounding the individual programs. It discusses the benefits to direct recipients, producers, and to society and explores future expectations for food aid. Since prices that are reasonable to most households may not allow low income households to secure adequate nutritious food, special food aid programs are designed to prevent hunger and suffering and to invest in human capital. The original objective of US food aid programs, in the 1930s, was to provide a way to dispose of surplus agricultural commodities purchased by the government in order to stabilize farm prices and incomes. Food aid programs in the United States are a mixture of the last two, delivering food and/or purchasing power. Domestic food aid is largely financed through federal programs which are administered at the state and local levels.
