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Food issues: Home

Primary source materials related to food issues held by Special Collections

Food issues

Prepared by Lalah Manly, graduate research assistant

Agriculture / Farming

Bob Barr, Legislative files, box 329

  • Folder 2: Agriculture. Materials about agriculture issues throughout Barr’s congressional career. This file contains a variety of letters regarding agricultural issues, most of which are dated between 1999 and 2001. Letters reference the Dairy Consumers and Producers Protection Act, Bermuda and fescue hay yields and the impact on farmers, the impact of drought conditions and natural disasters (and the need for funds address these with farmers), cotton, and crop insurance.

Bob Barr box 427

  • Folder 21: Farm Subsidies, n.d.: a single newspaper clipping regarding the desire of some Republican law-makers to overhaul farm subsidies across 7 years, and the opposition of other Republicans who felt their constituents were ill-served by such legislation.
  • Folder 22: Farming, 1988: single letter from the National Farmers Union pledging support of Congressman Barr and informing him of NFU staffers available to help him. 

Bob Barr box 529

  • Folder 39: Agriculture, 1999-2002.  Contains clippings related to farm subsidies in the Farm Bill which mostly oppose the use of subsidies for farmers.   
  • Folder 40: Agriculture, 1996.  letters and clippings discuss peach crop insurance, Milk Marketing Orders (MMOs), the ban on interstate transport of state meat and poultry, the growth poultry production in Georgia, designation of Georgia counties as eligible for disaster relief, and the impact of the FY 1997 Agriculture Appropriations Bill on peanut and cane sugar farmers.
  • Folder 41: Agriculture, 1995-1996.  Impact of lack of sugar reform under the 1996 Farm Bill.  Restoring competition and prosperity to cattle producers, and fair beef prices to consumers. The Economic Impact of the Closing of Premium Pork, a letter from a constituent. 
  • Folder 42: Agriculture, 1995-1996.  National Farmers Union fly-in materials. 7th Congressional District Agricultural Survey. 
  • Folder 43: Agriculture, 1996.  Resumption of suspended poultry trade with Russia.
  • Folder 44: Agriculture, 1995-1995.  Natural Resources Conservation Service information regarding Georgia resource conservation and development. 
  • Folder 45: Agriculture, 1995.  Under the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994, a number of agencies serving farmers were merged or otherwise reorganized to increase efficiency, improve customer services, and reduce costs.  This caused a number of agency offices to close and/or move to new locations.  Included in this file are letters of concern about where farmers will receive their services.  The file also contains clippings regarding farm subsidies and a full issue of The Roll Call about the Farm Bill in 1995. 
  • Folder 46: Agriculture, 1994-1995. Information in a packet by the American Peanut Coalition, a group formed to educate policy makers about the impact of peanut quotas on the American economy.  Other subjects covered in this file include Ducks Unlimited’s support for reauthorization of the Conservation Reserve Program; Americans for Tax Reform’s opposition to the 1996 Farm Bill’s treatment of dairy farmers and desire for peanut program reform; the Agriculture Committee’s opposition to the Livingston Agricultural Quarantine Inspection; Congressman Kingston’s opinion of farm bill sugar reform; Coca-Cola’s support for the Miller-Schumer amendment (sugar reform); information about the Agriculture Market Transition Act (H.R. 2854) which would phase out subsidies over 7 years; and a newspaper clipping regarding the Delaney Clause (there is no safe dose of harmful additives except zero). 
  • Folder 47: Agriculture, 1994-1995. An issue of The Heritage Foundation Backgrounder regarding the need for a farm bill that would let US farmers take advantage of a new global market. 
  • Folder 48: Agriculture, 1994-1995. “Freeing America’s Farmers: The Heritage Plan for Rural Prosperity.”  A full issue of The Roll Call: Agriculture Policy Briefing. Equity Analysis of Farm Legislation Since 1985 by the US Dept of Agriculture, Office of the Chief Economist, 1995. 
  • Folder 49: Agriculture, 1995-1996.  H.R. 2265, bill to prohibit the regulation of any tobacco products used or purchased by the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing…
  • Folder 50: Agriculture, 1994. Georgia Agricultural Facts, by the Georgia Agricultural Statistics Service, 1994.

Bob Barr box 530

  • Folder 1: Agriculture, 1995. Contains the 1995 report from the Governor’s Science and Technology Advisory Council. 
  • Folder 2: Agriculture, 1995. Joint Hearing information on Agricultural Guest Working Programs.
  • Folder 3: Agriculture, 1996. The National Grange Legislative Policies 1996 lists the political stances of the National Grange on a wide variety of topics related to farming. 
  • Folders 4 & 5: Agriculture, 1995-1996. Fact sheets and communication to the Congressman regarding the 1996 Farm Bill. 
  • Folder 6: Agriculture Disaster Relief, 1998.  News releases from congressmen and the Farm Service Agency regarding agriculture disaster relief in 1999.
  • Folder 8: Agriculture Delaney Cause, 1996.  Regarding the 1958 Delaney clause, which prohibits most potentially cancer-causing pesticides residues in processed foods.  Bipartisan compromise reached for H.R. 1627, The Food Quality Protection Act, which changed the safety standard. 
  • Folder 13: Agriculture Peanut Program, 1995-1996.  Clippings and letters regarding peanut farming and the impact of changes in quota on cost of peanuts to consumers. 
  • Folder 16: Agriculture - Rome Chamber and Peanuts (Charles Clotfelter and The Peanut Factory), 1996.  Contains info on the peanut industry and 1996 Farm Bill.  In a packet provided by the American Peanut Product Manufacturers, there are two articles from the Albany Herald and the AJC which overview the impact of peanut quotas on the industry.  There are also letters from the Rome Chamber of Commerce supporting the position that the peanut program should be phased to a free market system over 3-5 years. 
  • Folder 17: Agriculture Sugar File, 1994-1996. Dateline transcript of a broadcast on peanuts and government quotas (simply written for a general audience) plus articles from the Washington Times, USA Today, the AJC, the New York Times, and the Washington Post on government subsidies for peanuts (and sugar).  Further materials in the file concern sugar policy. 
  • Folder 34B: Allatoona Lake, Ga., 2002.  FY 2002 Civil Works Budget Request for the US Army Corps of Engineers, regarding Lake Allatoona.

Bob Barr box 547

  • Folder 28: Food Quality, 1998. Letter from Cooperative People Working for a Common Goal to Bob Barr regarding the EPA’s practices in deciding which pesticides will be kept on the market. 

Georgia Political Heritage Project, online interview with Herman Talmadge, 21 May 1986;

  • “This discussion in this interview is centered around agriculture and Herman Talmadge's views on its significance in Georgia. He goes through several presidencies and talks about how they dealt with changes in the agricultural markets over the course of the twentieth century. Talmadge also answers questions regarding his personal relationships with members of the Senate and Congress as they dealt with agricultural affairs. Talmadge discusses the relationships between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches in the passing of agricultural laws. Talmadge also goes into details about his life during the Great Depression.”

Mac Collins, 108th, box 215

  • Folder 14: H.R. 2646, The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002. Includes a document by the Farm Bureau titled “Georgia Ag Facts” with Georgia’s agricultural ratings (Georgia ranks first in eggs, e.g.).  Also, “Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002: Talking Points and Program Explanation.” 

Mac Collins, 108th, box 216

Pat Swindall papers, box 9 folder 5

  • Folder 5: Advisory Council – Agriculture 1986. File contains form letter and addresses to constituents who might be interested in joining Congressman Swindall’s Agricultural Advisory Committee.  Information on the 1986 Conservation Reserve Program, which “encourages farmers to stop growing crops on highly erodible cropland and to plant it with grass or trees through 10 year contracts with the USDA.”
  • Folder 19: Agribusiness Council, 1988.  Contains a single document for the Georgia Agribusiness Council Partnership (winter 1988), with registration information for the 1988 Agribusiness Legislative Breakfast and Annual Meeting.

Dairy

Bob Barr, 106th, box 32

  • Folder 19: Dairy Consumers and Producers Protection Act.  This bill makes changes to the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact and establishes the Southern Dairy Compact. “The mission of the commission is to take such steps as are necessary to assure the continued viability of dairy farming in the south, and to assure consumers of an adequate, local supply of pure and wholesome milk.”  It’s a somewhat arduous read beginning to end, but does give insight into government impact on how milk gets to our tables.  April 1999

Bob Barr, Legislative files, box 329

  • Folder 2: Materials about agriculture issues throughout Barr’s congressional career. This file contains a variety of letters regarding agricultural issues, most of which are dated between 1999 and 2001. Letters reference the Dairy Consumers and Producers Protection Act, Bermuda and fescue hay yields and the impact on farmers, the impact of drought conditions and natural disasters (and the need for funds address these with farmers), cotton, and crop insurance.

Bob Barr box 355

  • Folder 20: Georgia Dairy Farmers, 2/24/99.  Contains a copy of “News for Dairy Co-ops”

Bob Barr box 377

  • Folder 9: International Dairy Foods, n.d. This file contains “The Economic Realities of Dairy Compacts,” written by lawyers stating their case against the upcoming Northeast and Southern Compacts.  There is also a set of policy position statements by the International Dairy Foods Association, stating support for the FAIR Act of 1996. 

Bob Barr box 530

  • Folder 7: Agriculture Dairy Provisions for Farm Bill, 1995-1996.  Dairy provisions of the 1996 Farm Bill.  Letters to the Congressman from varying points of view regarding the positive and negative impacts of the Farm Bill dairy provisions.

Bob Barr box 540

  • Folder 10: Dairy 1998.  Contains material from the International Dairy Foods Association opposing the “milk tax,” or the Southern Dairy Compact proposed by the Agriculture Commissioner. 
  • Folder 11: Dairy, 1998.  Contains a large spiral bound document called “Current Milk Pricing Issues” from February 1998 by the International Dairy Foods Association.
  • Folder 13: Dairy Info, 1997.  Contains a packet of information with an article titled “Why a Base Plan?” which speaks to government impact on milk pricing. 
  • Folder 14: Dairy Information, 1997-1999.  Federal Milk Marketing Order information.
  • Folder 15: Dairy Research, 1997.  Information on the pricing of milk and cheddar cheese, and the hoped-for establishment of a Southeast Dairy Research and Education Consortium (SEDREC).

Newt Gingrich, Miscellaneous, box 2685 (the Gingrich papers are restricted to approved researchers by terms of the donor agreement; please contact Special Collections for access instructions)

  • Folder 5: Dairy Bill. File contains a legislative amendment to H.R. 2837 (Milk Inventory Management Act of 1991) and a “Statement of Administrative Policy” regarding H.R. 2837, which says that if it is passed, presidential advisors will recommend a veto. 

Thomas B. Murphy papers, Jackey Beavers’ Office, General Files, box 9

  • Folder 13: Dairy 2000. Information provided to Representative Tom Murphy by the States Ratification Committee, for the purpose of achieving ratification for the Southern Dairy Compact and to expand the Northeast Dairy Compact.  These Compacts provide states the opportunity to work together in setting regional pricing for fluid milk. 

Emergency Food / Food Banks

Bob Barr Box 336

  • Folders 14 and 15 contain fliers and political letters relating to the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, and the National Association for Convenience Stores, neither of which was fruitful for this purpose.

Newt Gingrich, Miscellaneous, box 2685 (the Gingrich papers are restricted to approved researchers by terms of the donor agreement; please contact Special Collections for access instructions)

  • Folder 6: Food Bank, (GSA). Contains memo and news release by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) regarding Operation Desert Share, the distribution of excess foodstuffs from Operation Desert Storm to food banks feeding the homeless. The food will be distributed by Second Harvest food banks around the country, and a listing of member banks is included in the file. 

Newt Gingrich, Miscellaneous, box 2855 (the Gingrich papers are restricted to approved researchers by terms of the donor agreement; please contact Special Collections for access instructions)

  • Folder 13: File contains a Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report for Congress from 1994 called “The Emergency Food Assistance Program.”  Details how Federal commodities were used to feed the poor in the early 1980s and how the program evolved into the 90s.  Other CRS reports included in the file are “The Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP),” “Child Nutrition Programs: A Fact Sheet,” “Domestic Food and Nutrition Programs: Fact Sheet,” and “Food Stamps: Background and Funding.” 

Thomas B. Murphy papers, series XI, box 2

  • Folder 4: Atlanta Community Food Bank. File contains legislative language establishing and appropriating funds for the Georgia State Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (undated), SNAP fact sheets, a list of Georgia food banks, and the Foodsharing newsletter (Aug-Oct 1997).

Farm Bureau

Thomas B. Murphy papers, Jackey Beavers’ Office, General Files, box 16

  • Folder 2: Georgia Farm Bureau.  Correspondence from the Georgia Farm Bureau, an organization of 159 chapters across Georgia.  Topics include “GFB Day at the Capitol,” ad valorem tax relief, and priority legislative issues.

Food

Bob Barr box 547

  • Folder 27: The Food Chain Coalition: A group of many organizations related to food, the Food Chain Coalition has written a letter to the EPA regarding the ways in which their implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 was inadequate.

Food Marketing

Bob Barr box 357

  • Folder 3: Food marketing 1999. Three food marketing organizations provide a position statement pertaining to legislation that would require country of origin labeling for meat coming into the US.  1999 (one and ¼ page)

Bob Barr box 365

  • Folder 7: Food Marketing Institute, 2000. Food Marketing Institute opposes OSHA legislation related to occupational ergonomic disorders.

Food Safety

Bob Barr box 530

  • Folder 8: Agriculture Delaney Cause, 1996.  Regarding the 1958 Delaney clause, which prohibits most potentially cancer-causing pesticides residues in processed foods.  Bipartisan compromise reached for H.R. 1627, The Food Quality Protection Act, which changes the safety standard. 

Mac Collins, 103rd, box 12

  • Folder 64: HR 1627: Food Quality Protection Act.  Legislation meant to amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodentcide Act and the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act with regard to safe levels of pesticides in infant and child foods. 

Mac Collins, 108th, box 216

  • Folder 1: HR. 2519, Downed Animal Protection Act, 2003-2004. Includes a transcript for an Agricultural Appropriations 2004 hearing.  File further contains a number of newspaper articles on Mad Cow Disease.

Food Services

Beheruz Sethna papers, box 52

  • Folder 6: ARA Food Services, 1987-1998. The file primarily contains letters regarding the Aramark food service, including letters regarding Aramark’s negotiated annual contribution to the A Day fund.  One document included is the Student Advisory Council Minute notes regarding food service at UWG in 1994. Another is one entitled “Recommendations to Improve and Enhance the Food Service Operations at West Georgia College.” (Author and date are unknown, though the date should be circa 1992.)  A Campus Dining Services annual report dated 10-17-91 offers some inside information about the operation of dining services on campus.  This file, more than the next one, offers insight into student impact on campus dining and on activities engaged in by Aramark to keep student food-dollars on campus. 

Beheruz Sethna papers, box 285

  • Folder 1: Aramark Food Services, 1999-2005. Primarily this file contains letters to and from Aramark, the company with the contract to source food to the UWG cafeterias and catered events.  Of note among the letters is the agreement by Aramark to contribute $200,000 to UWG across 10 years, money which was put into an endowment by the university.  The file also contains an Aramark annual report.

Bob Barr Box 336

  • Folders 13-15: Food Service and Management, Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program.  Contains the American School Food Service Association 2002 Legislative Issue Paper, which might offer a look at a variety of issues important to the school lunch program nationally. 

Bob Barr box 356

  • Folder 5: Georgia School Food Service Association, 1999.  One letter from constituent asking to meet and discuss school lunch program with Congressman Barr.

Bob Barr, Box 361

Maurice Townsend box 37

  • Folder 5: Food Services. File contains requests that UWG place companies on the food bid list, as well as a UWG request for proposals to operate a college food service; a food services survey summary; memos regarding food quality, quashing of food fights, snack bar renovations, food service committee, food coupon vs. meal card plans; and food service financial reports.
  • Folder 6: Food Services (ARA), October 1973-December 1978.  File includes: ARA Dining Proposal; memos regarding the possibility of opening weekend food service; weekly dining menus; a food preference student survey prepared by ARA; memo regarding the need for available dining services during freshman orientation; meal plan price changes to students; fiscal arrangements with ARA; contract with ARA; letter from President Pafford to USG Chancellor regarding food service operation at UWG (dated 10/30/73; and General Specifications for Proposed Contracted Food Services by ARA, Fall 1973.
  • Folder 7: Food Service (ARA), Jan 1979-March 1985.  File includes: campus dining services memos; Quarterly Report to Dr. Townsend from ARA; changes to ARA contract; ARA and WGC correspondence; and a negative news clipping about ARA.
  • Folder 8: Food Services (ARA) April 1985-Nov. 1986.  File contains: proposal by ARA Services for improvements to dining facilities; ARA annual report to employees; memo from President Townsend to ARA Food Services UWG director with recipe to try; and ARA and WGC correspondence. 

Ward B. Pafford papers, box 5

  • Folder 10: Food Service – Ad Hoc Committee 1974.  Contains letters between Board of Regents and President Pafford regarding the need for and the issued permission for increases in meal ticket costs to students.

Food Stamps

Bob Barr box 547

  • Folder 29: Food Stamps. Contains newspaper clippings relate to possibility of block grants to states rather than food stamps; provision of debit cards (instead of food stamps) for military personnel who would otherwise qualify for food stamps; and provision of food stamps to legal aliens.
  • Folder 30: Food stamps to immigrants, 1998: one article on food stamps for immigrants, one email from Bob Barr opposing said legislation, a letter regarding Welfare-to-Work programs, and a news release regarding Georgia’s rule about oversight for relatives (grandparents) caring for grandchildren.

Bob Barr box 592

  • Folder 63: Soldiers on Food Stamps, 1999. Contains a document titled, “The Food Stamp Program and the Military” (21 pages), which discusses the research to determine if military pay was so low as to cause military personnel to go on food stamps.  There is also a generic document from 1999 and downloaded from the USDA website titled, “Facts About the Food Stamp Program.”

Ebb Duncan papers, Series II, box 2

  • Folder 11: Senate Food Stamp Study Committee. Research and expression of how families might “cheat the system” into earning more food stamps by claiming fewer deductions on taxable income, followed by recommendations that this loophole be closed.  Also, an impassioned speech by Georgia State Senator Henry McDowell requesting that food stamp benefits to the elderly and disabled be shored up rather than undermined.  AJC clippings from 1975 regarding U.S. food stamp program savings, how errors in computation of qualification lead to Georgia having the 4th highest rate of error in the country, and the impact of reform on the program.  Western Union telegrams from Assistant Secretary Richard Feltner answering questions about the Food Stamp Program asked by Senator McDowell.  Senator Sam Nunn’s statement on the Food Stamp Reform bill.  The outcome of these documents is Federal Food Stamp Program reform by way of a standard deduction approach over an and itemized deduction system.

Mac Collins, 104th, box 26 (Hearings – Ways and Means Committee Food Stamps Reform, 1995)

  • Folder 13: Ways and Means Committee, 1995 H.R. 1135, The Food Stamp Reform and Commodity Distributions Act.  Food Stamp Reforms – information about HR 1135, rationale

Newt Gingrich, Miscellaneous, box 2855 (the Gingrich papers are restricted to approved researchers by terms of the donor agreement; please contact Special Collections for access instructions)

  • Folder 13: Hunger, Federal Food Assistance Program. File contains a Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report for Congress from 1994 called “The Emergency Food Assistance Program.”  Details how Federal commodities were used to feed the poor in the early 1980s and how the program evolved into the 90s.  Other CRS reports included in the file are “The Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP),” “Child Nutrition Programs: A Fact Sheet,” “Domestic Food and Nutrition Programs: Fact Sheet,” and “Food Stamps: Background and Funding.” 

Livestock / Poultry / Fishing

Bob Barr box 530

  • Folder 14: Agriculture Poultry Provisions, 1995.  Information regarding poultry provisions in H.R. 2195, the Freedom to Farm Act, and the FY 1996 Appropriations Bill definitions of “fresh” vs. “frozen” poultry. 
  • Folder 15: Agriculture Poultry Trade with Russia, 1996.

Mac Collins, 108th, box 216

  • Folder 1: HR. 2519, Downed Animal Protection Act, 2003-2004. Includes an Agricultural Appropriations 2004 hearing transcript.  File further contains a number of newspaper articles on Mad Cow Disease.

Newt Gingrich, 104th and 105th Congresses, box 2121 folders 10, 11 (Agriculture; Agriculture and Disaster Relief Package) (the Gingrich papers are restricted to approved researchers by terms of the donor agreement; please contact Special Collections for access instructions)

  • Folder 10: Agriculture. File contains press release regarding passage of tax relief for farmers and ranchers; submission of a name for consideration on the Federal Advisory Committee; and letter from Zell Miller regarding poultry exports to Russia.

Thomas B. Murphy papers, Jackey Beavers’ Office, General Files, box 7

  • Folder 7, Catfish Farming 1994. Contains letter and plan for exploring a catfish farming operation in Georgia.