As the cost of food and fuel reaches record highs, lines are growing longer and shelves are growing emptier at FOOD Share. The only hope for the low-income residents of Ventura County is the passage of the farm bill. This critical piece of legislation authorizes necessary funding for nutrition and food assistance programs for low-income families, children and seniors. For months, the farm bill has been stalled in Congress while millions of Americans remain stuck in the grip of hunger on a daily basis.

Over the holidays, we had to issue an urgent call to action to help restock our shelves. Since that call, our situation has once again become dire. We continue to face one of the toughest periods in our history with dramatic declines in commodity support from the federal government and private food donations. We are being forced to dip into scarce financial reserves to purchase food and to ration food to people in need because of our low inventories.

Several critical factors have contributed to what is rapidly becoming a desperate situation for FOOD Share and the 33,000 people we serve. Nationally, we've seen a significant drop in federal commodity support of nearly $200 million per year since the enactment of the last farm bill in 2002. Both here in Ventura County and across the country, the economic downturn has taken quite a toll.

Meanwhile, the cost of food is higher than it has been at any time in recent memory, and people who rely on food stamp benefits to feed their families are seeing a rapid erosion in their purchasing power. Benefit levels are set once per year and food prices have risen 5.5 percent since the last adjustment just six months ago.

Help for the hungry residents of Ventura County is at hand only if Congress and the administration finish the farm bill — legislation now six months overdue. Congress is on recess and scheduled to return to Washington in early April. Last week, President Bush signed a second extension to the existing farm bill that will authorize current programs through April 18. He called on Congress to either get a farm bill passed by that date or to extend the current bill for one year. Congress must act as soon as it returns.

A one-year extension to the farm bill would be catastrophic for FOOD Share and those we serve. FOOD Share does not have the capacity to meet dramatically increasing requests for food assistance with very little food supply. It is critical for Congress to show leadership by passing a farm bill and for the president to show compassion by signing it so that none of those in our great nation and here in Ventura County who face hunger daily will have to wait longer for relief.

— Jewel Pedi is the community and governmental relations representative for FOOD Share Inc. in Oxnard.