Hunger in Maryland

Garden Harvest: Facts about Hunger

Hunger Locally: In Maryland

The problem of hunger is well documented, and the problem appears to be intensifying. The Center for Poverty Solutions reports in their annual survey of emergency food agencies in the State, that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people applying for food, but that donations of food are down.

Most startling and disheartening of all is the fact that over 45% of the food providers responding to the survey report having to turn away hungry people due to lack of food.

Our Daily Bread, The largest soup kitchen in Maryland, reports that in one year the number of people seeking food at their door each day doubled - from 400 to 1,000 individuals. And, until now, there has been no regular, reliable source for fresh produce other than the occasional availability of the un-saleable leftovers from the wholesale markets and sporadic provisions by area restaurants and retail outlets. Yet the role that fresh, preferably organically-grown, fruits and vegetables perform in the healthy development of body and mind is well-documented: The provision of a nutritious diet is crucial if people are to become and remain healthy, productive and contributing members of society.

At the same time that demand has been increasing, food supply has been decreasing. The increased efficiency in the food industry has translated into fewer dented cans, punctured boxes, etc. that comprise the bulk of donations. Also, productive farm land has been dwindling at such an alarming rate that the United States Department of Agriculture predicts that in 60 years the US, once the Bread Basket of the world, may become a net importer of food unless farming practices that preserve the soil are more widely implemented. Conventional farmers' reliance on expensive, natural resource depleting chemicals, used as chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, threaten soil integrity. Use of these chemicals deadens the soil, making necessary increasing amounts of these inputs each year, to maintain yield, thus increasing costs continually until the farmer can no longer make adequate profits whereupon he goes out of business, sells to developers, and more agricultural land is permanently lost.