The American Soybean Association (ASA) today praised new legislation to reauthorize the important George McGovern-Robert Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition program. ASA applauded Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) along with Representatives Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) and Jim McGovern (D-MA) who introduced the bill today. In recent years, the international school feeding program has used U.S. soy to provide children with better nutrition that helped them to learn.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) introduced the program as a pilot in 2000. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 formally launched the program that received $100 million in fiscal year (FY) 2007 to fight hunger. The legislation introduced today would continue the program in fiscal years 2008 to 2012, under the oversight of the USDA. The bill calls for increased funding over five years, beginning with $140 million in FY 2008 and reaching $300 million in FY 2012.

“Soybean growers are proud to join with the many international groups who support the McGovern-Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition program,” said ASA President Richard Ostlie, a soybean producer from Northwood, N.D. “Adding high-protein soy is a simple and cost effective way to help children. Soybean growers make the McGovern-Dole program even more effective through ASA’s World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) program that assists international groups with education and training on the use of high-protein soy. For a few cents per serving, high-protein soy can be added to foods that are already popular with children in developing countries.”

Numerous groups have requested high-protein soy through the McGovern-Dole Program to help them fight hunger. In August 2004, USDA announced 800 metric tons of textured soy protein to go to Florida-based Food for the Poor to aid their efforts to feed 117,500 people in Guatemala. At the same time, Mercy Corps received soy protein concentrate to help feed 20,000 people in Eritrea, a country in northern East Africa.

“The McGovern-Dole Food For Education Program gives hope to millions of children in some of the world’s poorest places. The program fosters long-term development and helps create new markets for U.S. farmers overseas,” said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin. “This intersection of commerce and conscience was the driving force for Illinois soybean farmers and others to support the McGovern-Dole Program and to form the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH), a program that helps deliver U.S. high protein soy to international feeding programs.”
Our challenge as Americans is to boost our credibility with the man on the street in any number of impoverished nations around the globe. The McGovern-Dole school feeding program and the American Soybean Association’s WISHH program are key initiatives in this effort,” said U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson. “American generosity, volunteerism and humanitarianism are important weapons in the war on terror, the war on hunger, and the war on poverty. The more children we can help to eat and learn, the better reputation we have to the man on the street and the more receptive he will be to other ideas about peace and freedom.”

Ensuring minimum funding levels will strengthen the USDA’s ability to carry out long-term planning, implementation and evaluation of the program as well as increase local capacity-building and sustainability. It will also encourage other donors to match the U.S. commitment to international school feeding programs.
The WISHH program is also focused on creating long-term sustainable solutions to meet the rising demand for protein in developing countries. Headquartered at the ASA office in St. Louis, Mo., WISHH has worked in 23 countries to improve diets as well as encourage growth of food industries in developing countries.