Minute for Mission: World Food Day

October 16, 2024

Pulses (edible seeds of plants in the legume family

Oct. 16 is World Food Day. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization theme for 2024 is “Right to Foods for a Better Life and a Better Future”:

The world’s farmers produce enough food to feed more than the global population, yet hunger persists. Around 733 million people are facing hunger in the world due to repeated weather shocks, conflicts, economic downturns, inequality and the pandemic. This impacts the poor and vulnerable most severely, many of whom are agricultural households, reflecting widening inequalities across and within countries.

 Food is the third most basic human need after air and water — everyone should have the right to adequate food. Human rights such as the right to food, life and liberty, work and education are recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and two legally binding international covenants.    

 “Foods” stands for diversity, nutrition, affordability and safety. A greater diversity of nutritious foods should be available in our fields, in our markets and on our tables, for the benefit of all.

 In the Presbyterian Hunger Program, we walk alongside communities across the country and around the world as they creatively solve problems of hunger. This means supporting cattle farmers in Somalia; fisherfolk in Sri Lanka; women raising goats in Congo; Indigenous communities in the United States reclaiming land and traditional food ways in Alabama, South Dakota and New Mexico; Black farmers in New York and Virginia; community organizers and public policy advocates in Florida and Iowa; our own presbytery-based Hunger Action Advocates working across 14 presbyteries; and many more.

Where in your community and around the world do you see hunger? Where are people solving the problems of hunger? In addition to direct food relief, how can you support changing public policies and unjust systems, so all people have healthy, nutritious, affordable and safe food?

Rev. Rebecca Barnes, Coordinator, Presbyterian Hunger Program, Compassion Peace & Justice

Today’s Focus: World Food Day

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Ralph Su, Associate, Asian Intercultural Congregational Support, Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries, Presbyterian Mission Agency 
Carla Sutton, Operations Admin, Presbyterian Foundation 

Let us pray

Dear God, as we enjoy our meals at home and as we break bread together in the Lord’s Supper, help us to stay mindful of Jesus’ command for his disciples to give hungry crowds the food they need to live. Challenge us to demonstrate with our action and advocacy that we believe food is a basic human right and that all people deserve daily sustenance. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Minute for Mission: World Food Day

October 16, 2023

FAO, 2023, World Food Day Poster. https://digital-assets.fao.org/home

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Downloaded on Sept. 19, 2023.

Each year, Presbyterian congregations join with partners around the country (and globe) to lift up World Food Day (Oct. 16) during the Food Week of Action – from the Sunday before World Food Day until the Sunday after. The week also includes the International Day of Rural Women (Oct. 15) and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (Oct. 17).

During Food Week, especially, we commit to act. We commit to work for transformational policies, at the local, state and national levels, and to spend our dollars on food produced and brought to us in ways that promote a sustainable, just and equitable food system.

The theme of this year’s World Food Day is “Water is life, water is food. Leave no one behind.”

According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2 liters of water are generally needed daily for drinking, but it takes about 3,000 liters (about 793 gallons) to produce a person’s daily food needs.[i]

It takes a lot of water to produce food! For example, it takes 1 gallon of water to produce just one leaf of lettuce and 104 gallons of water to produce one-fifth of a pound of turkey.[ii]

Agriculture accounts for 70% of global freshwater withdrawals and remains a major source of water pollution.[iii] Industrial agriculture in particular uses chemical pesticides and fertilizers that can run off in strong rains and contaminate fresh water sources.

Transnational large-scale land investments in agriculture often lead to large-scale water use to produce cash crops for export. These land grabs can have major negative impacts on the water and food security of local communities.

Global consumption of minerals, metals and fossil fuels is also an important driver of land and water grabbing which impacts the abilities of local communities to feed themselves. The extractive industries are often water intensive in production and generate toxic heavy metal wastes that contaminate the air, soil and water.

Climate change has changed weather patterns and many folks are having to deal with alternating seasons of drought and flooding which makes farming very difficult; farmers incur great crop losses from year to year.

Large-scale hydroelectric dams cause the forced displacement and relocation of populations within the vicinity of the reservoir, create downstream agricultural production changes, and destroy livelihoods and culture.

Large-scale tourism projects grab coastal lands for the development of hotels and resorts and cause the displacement of fisherfolk, cutting them off from the waters necessary for their livelihoods.

Around 2 billion people worldwide do not have access to clean drinking water infrastructure.[iv] In the U.S., Navajo residents are 67 times more likely than other Americans to live without access to running water and 75% of people living on Hopi land are drinking contaminated water.[v]

Water is life, water is food. But so many continue to be left behind. So many are left thirsty and hungry.

We must ask ourselves, what choices are we making daily that are leaving folks behind?

Eileen Schuhmann, Associate for Global Engagement and Resources, Presbyterian Hunger Program

[i] fao.org/water/en
[ii] foodprint.org/issues/the-water-footprint-of-food
[iii] oecd.org/agriculture/water-food-systems-sustainability
[iv] blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/world-water-day-two-billion-people-still-lack-access-safely-managed-water
[v] acf.hhs.gov/blog/2022/08/addressing-water-and-wastewater-challenges-tribal-nations

Today’s Focus: World Food Day

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
René Myers, Director, Ministry Engagement Advisor Lead, Ministry Engagement & Support, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Dawn Nashid, Administrative Assistant II, Faith Based Investing & Corporate Engagement

Let us pray

Gracious God, you know the enormous challenges that we face on this earth. And you know that many of these challenges have been caused by our own wrong thinking and actions. Please help us to see another way. We pray that you give us right vision and lead us towards just action. Amen.

Minute for Mission: Food Week of Action and World Food Day

October 16, 2021

Soul Fire Farm, a grantee partners of the Hunger Program, works for food justice in Troy, N.Y., near their farm. Free shares of wonderful organic food are provided to families who need assistance, and they help people set up gardens around their homes.

World Food Day — celebrated on Oct. 16 every year — commemorates the founding in 1945 of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The FAO was created to respond to famines and the tragedy of hunger in a world of God’s abundance. Despite the abundance of land, water, nutrients, and sunlight on this precious planet, even in the 21st century, hundreds of millions of people go hungry on Oct. 16 and every day of the year.

Each year, Presbyterian congregations join with partners around the country (and globe) to lift up World Food Day during the Food Week of Action – from the Sunday before World Food Day until the Sunday after. The week also includes the International Day for Rural Women (Oct. 15) and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (Oct. 17).

The Black Lives Matter and the Land Back movements remind us that our food has been grown on land stolen from Native peoples in a food system founded on plantation agriculture and slavery. Furthermore, it is racism that harms workers in the food chain. The very workers who provide our daily bread — those who plant, harvest and serve our food — are disproportionately people of color and are subjected to insufficient protection from COVID-19, dangerous conditions and poverty wages.

During Food Week, especially, we commit to act. We commit to work for transformational policies, at the local, state and national levels, and to spend our dollars on food produced and brought to us in ways that promote a sustainable, just and equitable food system.

People and Planet First is the theme of this year’s Food Week of Action. People and Planet First means prioritizing family farmers, fishers and others producing in harmony with nature — agroecologically — and achieving food sovereignty. As communities continue to face the pandemic and vulnerable food chains, we realize the necessity of building resilient agricultural systems that protect and cool the planet and put farmers and workers first. This year’s Food Week highlights groups and initiatives that are building an equitable and sustainable food systems, while also tackling the economic and racial causes of hunger, poverty and oppression.

Food Week highlights the actions and campaigns of the 75-plus cosponsoring organizations that are building a better more equitable food system. Visit pcusa.org/foodweek information and resources on the Food Week of Action and World Food Day.

In your congregation, everyone can learn more about eating and the related issues of health, environment, the sacredness of food, and community building with the “Just Eating? Practicing Our Faith at the Table” curriculum. The curriculum has spurred new farmers markets, advocacy on the Farm Bill and church-based food initiatives. Go to pcusa.org/justeating to download the free curriculum. You may also get ideas from the “Food Sovereignty for All: Overhauling Our Food System with Faith-Based Initiatives Guide” found at bit.ly/phpfoodfaith.

Andrew Kang Bartlett, Associate for National Hunger Concerns, Presbyterian Hunger Program

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Jennifer Barr, Reference & Outreach Archivist, Presbyterian Historical Society
Andrew Kang Bartlett, Associate, National Hunger Concerns, Presbyterian Hunger Program, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Loving God, we are inspired by your vision of the Beloved Community. We know that such community begins with everyone being fed, so on this World Food Day, we imagine a world where everyone has enough affordable, healthy and culturally appropriate food. We confess that we have not done enough to guarantee the God-given right to food. Give us the strength to push for local and national policies that ensure children have sufficient nourishment to develop their bodies and minds. May the people who are unemployed, undocumented, unhoused and incapacitated have enough to pay for groceries. May we remember everyone who must suffer the indignity of hunger in a world of plenty. Today, we also remember the grueling labor of all the workers — farmworkers and farmers, people processing and shipping our food, cashiers at restaurants and each person who prepares a meal across the planet. We give our gratitude for their labor and pray that through our actions and your love, they will be safe, healthy, fairly compensated, respected and celebrated!  Amen.

Minute for Mission – World Food Day

 October 16, 2020

World Food Day — celebrated on October 16 every year — commemorates the founding in 1945 of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The FAO was created to respond to famines and the tragedy of hunger in a world of God’s abundance. Despite the abundance of land, water, nutrients and sunlight on this precious planet, even in the 21st century, hundreds of millions of people go hungry on Oct. 16 and throughout the year.

Each year, Presbyterian congregations join with partners around the country to lift up World Food Day during the Food Week of Action — October 11–18. Food Week of Action starts the Sunday before World Food Day and ends on the Sunday after it. This week also includes the International Day for Rural Women (Oct. 15) and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (Oct. 17).

This year especially, as the Black Lives Matter movement spreads across all sectors of society, we must understand that our food grows on land stolen from Native peoples and that it is a system founded on plantation agriculture and slavery. Furthermore, that racism continues to taint many aspects of the food chain in addition to despoiling God’s Creation. The very workers who provide our daily bread — those who plant, harvest, and serve our food — are disproportionately people of color and are subjected to dangerous conditions and poverty wages. During Food Week especially, we commit to act. We commit to work for policies, at the local, state and national levels, and to spend our dollars on food produced and brought to us in ways that promote a sustainable, just and equitable food system.

The theme of this year’s Food Week is “hopeful harvest,” because thousands of groups around the world are working tirelessly for a food system that puts people and God’s Creation first. As communities around the world face the pandemic and vulnerable food chains, people are realizing the necessity of more resilient agricultural systems that treat workers well and protect the planet. Family farmers, fishers and other producers are adopting and spreading agroecological practices and pushing for food sovereignty. Food Week highlights the actions and campaigns for the 60-plus cosponsoring organizations that are building a better food system — while also tackling the economic and racial drivers of hunger, poverty and oppression.

Find more information on the Food Week of Action and World Food Day at pcusa.org/foodweek.

In your congregation, everyone can learn more about eating and the related issues of health, environment, the sacredness of food, and community building with the “Just Eating: Practicing Our Faith at the Table” curriculum. The curriculum has spurred new farmers markets, advocacy on the Farm Bill, and church-based food initiatives. Go to pcusa.org/justeating to download the free curriculum. You may also get ideas from the “Food Sovereignty for All: Overhauling Our Food System with Faith-Based Initiatives Guide” found at bit.ly/phpfoodfaith.

Andrew Kang Bartlett, Associate for National Hunger Concerns, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Katie Rhodes, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Monique Rhodes, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

Loving, compassionate God, we are emboldened by your vision of the Beloved Community. On this day, we envision a world where everyone has enough affordable, healthy and culturally appropriate food. We confess that we have not done enough to guarantee the God-given right to food. Give us the strength to push for local and national policies that provide needed nutrition to children developing their physical and mental capacities, to unemployed people and seniors struggling to pay for groceries, and for everyone who must suffer the indignity of hunger in a world of plenty. Today, we also remember the grueling labor of all the workers — from farmworkers and farmers, to people processing and shipping our food, from cashiers at retail shops to everyone who heats up or cooks a meal across the planet. We give our gratitude for their labor and pray that through our actions and your love, they will be safe, healthy, fairly compensated, respected and celebrated! Amen.