More Households Request Food Aid

The U.S. Agriculture Department said Monday the number of households that reported struggling to buy enough food in 2008 jumped 31% over the previous year.

According to the USDA's annual poll, 17 million U.S. households reported some degree of food insecurity in 2008, up from 13 million households in 2007.

Read the entire article by SCOTT KILMAN and ROGER THUROW in the Wall Street Journal by clicking here.

Associated Press

Food banks are seeing a jump in people needing help, a survey says.

"It is time for America to get very serious about food security and hunger," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who is pressing Congress to expand such programs as food stamps and free school lunches that consume roughly 70% of his department's budget.