Posted on February 29, 2012

Farm Journal Foundation Awards $1 Million to Heifer International

The Farm Journal Foundation in Cedar Falls, Iowa, has announced a $1 million grant to Heifer International to identify communities in the United States and developing nations that would significantly benefit from the gift of livestock and training in animal husbandry and basic smallholder farming practices.

To date, the grant is the largest single commitment made through the Farmers Feeding the World initiative, an industry-wide effort operated by the Farm Journal Foundation that aims to raise $20 million in support of organizations working to fight global hunger and to educate the public on U.S. agricultural companies' role in addressing the crisis. The funding will support several of Heifer's sustainable hunger relief projects, including Seeds of Change in Appalachia and the Arkansas Delta, REACH (Rural Entrepreneurs for Agricultural Cooperation in Haiti), Integrated Livestock Development in Sierra Leone, and the Small Farmer Project for smallholder agriculture development in Armenia.

According to the Farm Journal Foundation, approximately one billion people are living in chronic hunger today, many of them small farmers in the developing world. The grant to Heifer International could enable thousands of those families in the U.S. and beyond to pull themselves out of poverty and chronic hunger.

"It's been a very exciting and rewarding first year for Farmers Feeding the World because of the ability to learn from and work with organizations like Heifer that are committed to solving world hunger through sustainable agricultural practices," said Farm Journal Foundation chairman Andy Weber. "Heifer is one of the most effective and efficient NGOs in the world in the fight against hunger and is totally in sync with our mission to rally American farmers and ranchers to help solve world hunger."