Joining Forces to Support the Hungry

I'm Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

Northwest farmers, the WSDA, and the ODA are working to raise food for the annual Northwest Farmers Fighting Hunger food drive all this month. Kim Eads, Program Manager with the WSDA Food Safety and Consumer Services Division tells us that the WSDA's involvement with the event is on numerous levels.

EADS: In particular for the programs that I operate they're around food assistance. We operate multiple USDA programs as well as state funding programs that help provide support to food banks, meal programs, tribes, tribal organizations. So we're very directly involved. On a larger scale is agriculture is very involved in feeding people, and we think that we can really grow those relationships and partnerships and that by bringing the awareness in particular with what's going on now - this is brought forth by farmers, and if we can band together and have a collective impact, not only at the federal level but the state level and private and public partnerships, that's the way that we can eliminate hunger.

Northwest Dairy Farmers and Fred Meyer stores both in Oregon and Washington have also partnered on the campaign.

EADS: Also Feeding America affiliates Food Lifeline and Second Harvest, as well in Oregon is the Oregon Food Bank. But also locally a lot of our local food banks are going to benefit from this drive, so we're looking forward to seeing some of those donations raised from the previous year.

To donate or to learn more about the campaign visit www.nwfarmersfightinghunger.com.

That's Washington Ag Today.

I'm Lacy Gray on the Ag Information Network.