Megan Whitacre is a former Oxfam America intern and current CHANGE leader. 

Here in the Midwest, we know farmers can get creative to deal with fluctuating prices. But this summer local farmers are turning their feed trough into an ice cream sundae. In Elkhart County, Indiana, one farmer has started to feed his dairy cows ice cream sprinkles, cookies, marshmallows, and gummy bears to give his cows the energy they need to produce milk. And in Reno County, Kansas, another farmer is feeding his cows thousands of pounds of chocolate scraps from a local chocolate factory.

Dairy cows on a US farm. Jacob Silberberg/Oxfam America

This isn’t just a treat to help cows beat the heat; in fact, it shows how US farmers are resorting to extreme measures to deal with the worst drought in 50 years across big corn and soy-producing states in the Midwest. Last year saw similar problems with drought in the US; as climate change endures, farmers in these states will continue to face hardship, and food prices will continue to surge. This year produced one of the smallest corn yields in 6 years, according to the USDA, and has sent food prices soaring worldwide. Meanwhile, last year, the US burned up 40 per cent of our domestic corn crop to make ethanol—pushing corn and other food prices higher. The corn farmers feed their animals is pricier than it ever has been—and sometimes not available at all.  And when feed prices go up, so does the cost for meat, dairy products, and other food that comes from animals.

Unfortunately, poor people don’t have the option of chowing on chocolate all day to dampen the impact of food costs. Worldwide, poor people bear the brunt of high food prices as food becomes an increasingly larger percentage of their budgets. And in countries where food is already scarce, not only do high prices make food aid increasingly necessary for basic survival, high prices also hinder the ability of thousands to break out of poverty as school costs and basic necessities are lost to the price of food. So it’s not just a lull in the fight against poverty. It’s a huge step back.

Next time you see headlines about food prices, bacon shortages, or even crazy stories about chocolate-eating cows, remember those who are being impacted the most. Organizations like Oxfam are taking a stand to address this growing food crisis. Join us by taking action on October 16 for World Food Day, and educate others about how they can help.

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For months now, Oxfam has been warning that a crisis is looming for millions of people across West and Central Africa. Resources have been mobilized, programs modified, and a response developed to provide short-term humanitarian relief. Now entering the “lean season”, more than 18 million are now at risk of hunger as households exhaust their food stocks, and cash reserves dwindle. The next few months will require increased support from donors, UN agencies, and organizations to assist in meeting basic needs. This will require the political will and financial backing of national governments—both donor and developing—to ensure plans to provide assistance are put in place and acted upon in a timely manner (meaning right now).

Unfortunately, early warnings in the Sahel have not yielded the kind of early action that can eliminate the worst suffering. It’s a pattern all too clear from the recent example of the Horn of Africa. As Oxfam and Save the Children documented in their recent report, despite information about the impending disaster, the international community responded late, a delay that cost thousands of lives.

The problem was not that we didn’t know an emergency was looming. In fact, there are now very good early warning systems in place. The problem was that we did not act with the information we had.

Seeking to avoid a similar fate in the Sahel, Oxfam’s first demand has been to call on governments—developing and donor countries alike—to take action now to head off the worst of the suffering and to make sure that adequate resources are provided to meet urgent humanitarian need. And, of course, we support efforts to raise the voice of concerned individuals to send a message to their political leaders (Secretary Clinton, are you listening?) to do the same.

So far, needs identified by governments in the region (for example through the development of national emergency response plans) have not been matched by the funding needed to fully implement response efforts. By the middle of May, two-thirds of need had been covered. In the intervening month, funding requirements have been adjusted upwards to $1.6 billion while contributions have not kept pace.

Scaling-up humanitarian response is just one step in a longer–term process of responding to this disaster and trying to reduce the likelihood and impact of future droughts and crop failures. Addressing the underlying factors that contribute to vulnerability among smallholder food producers requires a sustained effort only possible with real political commitment. Which is why the GROW Campaign is focused on strengthening investments in smallholder food producers. At the same time we are urging governments to act now to respond to the crisis, we are also working with partners in the region to shape an agenda for future once the worst of the crisis has subsided. Our message is that while the next few months are critical, the immediate response does not lessen the need to build resilience over the long-term to break the cycle of hunger.

A good place to start is by incorporating disaster risk reduction activities into the current response to help prepare for the next drought, for example by rehabilitating water points and introducing agriculture practices that can capture and better utilize rain water. Going forward efforts to help farmers manage risk through weather-based index insurance (currently being planned in Senegal through Oxfam America’s R4 work) also hold promise. Side by side these efforts, farmers need strong support backed by their governments to make them more productive as food producers and more able to profit from their efforts. Investments in infrastructure to facilitate market access, research and development to identify practical solutions to help farmers adapt to climate change, and the provision of agriculture extension services to provide advice and information that will increase crop production are just three examples where increased investments are urgently needed.

Calling for these kinds of interventions is easy, conceptualizing concrete solutions more complex, and turning plans into real programs of support for food producers, harder still. But if we want to assist farmers from being in this position then next time a major drought hits, it’s essential.

Oxfam is aiming to help 1.2 million people across seven countries with programs that include cash transfers and cash-for-work initiatives, veterinary care for the livestock on which many families depend, and access to clean water and sanitation. We are also campaigning to change the root causes of this crisis. Find out how you can support our efforts.

A longer version of this post was published today in McClatchy.

The telephone rang at 6:30am. It was my wife, “We had twenty four hundredths of rain last night.” I savored every word as if they were drops slowly soaking into parched earth.

Abandoned corn in Reno County, KS. Photo by Jim French.

The extreme drought has taken its toll on the region’s agriculture.The winter wheat harvest was lessened by thirty to sixty percent. Rain fed corn has mostly been abandoned or cut for feed. Rangeland grass has long stopped growing.

And yet in the midst of this severe drought, one doesn’t see mass migrations of rural folks.

Why? Since the depression there has been long-term government investment in programs that ensure agricultural resiliency through resource conservation and insurance. Like most farmers who suffered crop losses in June, my crop insurance helped compensate for the loss of income. Moreover, land grant research and extension services have helped spread better farming practices, which have prevented some of the worst consequences of drought.

In short, the US agriculture system is prepared to manage extreme situations, allowing us to avoid the type of mass migrations that destabilize governments and lead to famines elsewhere in the world.

This is not the case in East Africa where another historic drought is taking place. Thousands of Somalis have crossed into refugee camps in Kenya – a country that is also suffering from lack of rainfall. Officially declared a famine by the UN, at least 12 million people are at risk and many are dying each day from hunger. Because of the drought and failed infrastructure, over 135,000 people have fled Somalia into neighboring countries, creating new stresses for governments and exacerbating conflicts.

Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya where refugees from Somalia arrive everyday. Photo by Linda Ogwell/Oxfam.

We know there must be an immediate response. The UN estimates that $2.1 billion is needed to stave off a major humanitarian catastrophe. However, in places where chronic drought or the other extremes of climate can have a major impact on food security, there must be longer range investments to build local capacity and economic opportunity to prevent future crises.

Most of those displaced by drought rely on agriculture and food production to earn a living. But official development assistance for agriculture dropped 75 percent during the last three decades. Faltering public investments in developing country agriculture is undoubtedly an underlying cause of the current crisis and has undermined long term food security in many poor countries.

In the last two years, the US has made commitments on the global stage for investments that would help developing nations build resilience to these extremes and improve food security and self-reliance through small holder agriculture. These commitments would be less than what we now pay in wasteful farm subsidies and tax breaks for oil refiners to blend ethanol – spending that contributes little or nothing to US agricultural resiliency. And they will create powerful savings in the level of food aid that is needed and will help prevent the mounting national security costs that humanitarian crises create.

Whether in the US, Africa, or in any agricultural region, farmers will face uncertainty. The future will certainly hold greater risks as climate change increases, markets become more volatile, and resources more constrained. Planning for that future and investing in resiliency means a more secure world and a place where hope for rain is not a matter of life or death.

Note: Oxfam aims to reach 3 million people with a variety of support, including food aid, clean water, and veterinary care for animals. We are drilling and repairing wells and distributing fuel vouchers to ensure that pumps on the wells can keep operating—even if people have no money. We are also campaigning to change the root causes of this crisis. Find out how you can support our efforts.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the weather – and for good reason. Some of the most massive, violent storms in recent memory, coupled with ruthless, fast-moving tornadoes, have hit cities and towns throughout the midwest and southeast hard, leading to more than 500 lives lost with the death toll continuing to mount.

And it isn’t just the spring storms that are wreaking havoc on the country.

Historic floods along the Mississippi River, caused by a mix of intense rainfall and snowmelt, are of the largest experienced in the past century. In direct contrast to all of this unwanted water, areas throughout the southeast and southwest are experiencing unprecedented drought. In fact, one of Oxfam’s organizers who also remains active in a family ranch and farm operation in south central Kansas (a resident overachiever) tells me that this is the worst event to hit the region since the 1950s.

There’s a whole lot of buzz already linking such events to climate change, and it can’t be ignored that while no scientist will link individual weather events to climate change, the sheer intensity and unpredictability of such events are consistent with what we’re going to experience with global temperature rise. But, regardless of this link, it’s clear that we should stop to reflect on who is most vulnerable to these catastrophic events and which communities are likely to suffer most in the long-run.
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