Farm bill will provide security

The welfare of a large portion of our nation's disadvantaged children and our farmers hangs in the balance as Congress haggles over renewal of the farm bill due to expire on Sept. 30. The most contentious items include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), along with crop insurance subsidies for many of the nation's farmers.

Food stamps that make up approximately 80 percent of the bill's costs go to that most fragile portion of our population, disadvantaged children. Without this assistance, they are in a perpetual state of hunger, causing significant health and learning problems as evidenced by rising health care and corrective learning costs.

Critics of the food stamp program point toward assumed fraudulence and suggest that crop insurance has become more of an income supplement rather than a form of risk management. Those farmers facing weather hazards such as those of the 2012 drought and 2013's record spring rainfall know the importance of crop insurance.

Are we ready to surrender our disadvantaged children's future to food banks and the whims of a broken Congress and keep our farmers in a constant state of insecurity?

Obviously without creative fixes, this will become a reality.

A visit to your local food bank would be a top priority in the understanding of food pantries in the hunger equation. Another form of advocacy is your contribution of food and resources.

Most important, regularly admonish our legislators from both parties to please refuse to allow our kids and farmers to become the victims of Washington political gridlock.

Leonard E. Roberts

Oxford