He believes if the subsidy system was reformed to

difference in his opinion. He believes if the subsidy system was reformed to
remove the inequities within it, many issues such as hunger, health,
environment, and poverty could be positively changed for the better.
Finally, I ended with the same exact question for each of my
interviewees. It was short, straight to the point, and I only allowed them to
answer it initially with a yes or no response. I simply asked my original
question that I have been researching from the beginning of this semester:
Should this bill pass? Goddard explained that yes, this bill must pass in

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order for the Capital Area Food Bank, or any food bank to have a chance in
adequately addressing hunger. Without a current farm bill, federal funds
will disappear quickly, and when the shelves at the food bank are empty,
people will then look for food in manners that are not always safe. She told
me that everyday the farm bill does not pass; more and more people have to
wonder where their next meal will come from. While this may statement
might have been exaggerated to some extent, it offered a perspective I had
never considered. For some people, this bill will provide them sustenance
and a means for consumption for an extended period of time. It doesn’t only
affect corn farmers in the Mid-west it affects impoverished families on the
east side of Austin. Wispelwey countered this argument by stating that
unless this bill undergoes serious reform it should not pass. He recognized
that he understood that organizations as the Capital Area Food Bank
desperately require these funds in order to operate, but he also noted that if
the current subsidy system is permitted to function without reform, we will
need more and more food banks as time goes on. To Wispelwey, food banks
are essentially a band aid trying to cover a gaping wound. He maintains that
if we could address the real issue, which is the perpetuation of inequality
through legislative policies, we could eliminate the need for food banks and
end hunger and poverty.
My interview experiences caused me to reflect for several days. I
tossed both sides back and forth for over a week, because for the first time I
saw the humanity in each side and how it directly affected people within my

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own community. Lisa Goddard was confident that the farm bill was
necessary in order to address hunger in Austin. She drew from personal
experiences, and I could sense without a doubt she was speaking without
any hesitation in her belief. However, what I feel she failed to recognize was
that while the farm bill does succeed in funding vital food donation and food
bank centers across the nation, it fails in addressing a slew of other issues
besides hunger. Unfortunately, the farm bill is not set up to only address one
issue and affects many other programs such as school lunch programs,
ethanol research, and conservation programs. I think many people like
Goddard do not scrutinize the bill once their interests (i.e. their funds are
secured) have been satisfied. While her mentioning of families and