NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As World Food Day highlights global hunger challenges, a new report, Food Not Feed: How to Stop the World's Biggest Form of Food Waste, by Compassion in World Farming exposes a hidden scandal in America's food system: taxpayers spend billions annually subsidizing corn and soybeans—not to feed Americans, but to feed animals on factory farms.

As the United States rolls back international food aid and implements deep cutbacks to domestic nutrition programs, the government is also maintaining policies that waste enough grain annually to feed 287.8 million people.

The report reveals that feeding 202.7 million tons of human-edible grain to industrially farmed animals results in 160 million tons of food lost each year—more than all household, restaurant, and retail food waste combined. This inefficiency arises because animals convert grain poorly into meat, milk, and eggs: for every 100 calories of grain fed to animals, only 3-25 calories enter the human food chain.

“We grow enough food to feed every person in America—twice over. Yet instead of feeding people, we’re funneling that food into industrial animal farms, wasting 160 million tons of grain in the process,” said Matthew Dominguez, Executive Director of Compassion in World Farming U.S. “While 47 million Americans go hungry, our tax dollars continue to subsidize this waste. That’s not agriculture policy—it’s agricultural malpractice.”

The Scale of Misallocated Resources:

• 30% of farm subsidies support feed crops; only 4% support fruits and vegetables
• Over a third of U.S. corn and 97% of soybeans (as meal) are used for animal feed, not human food
• $3.2 billion on corn subsidies and $1.9 billion on soy subsidies spent in recent years—most benefiting concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)
• 160 million tons of potential food lost annually through inefficient conversion of grain to meat
• 90% of Americans fall short on vegetable intake and 80% on fruit—yet policy prioritizes feed over food
• 18 million acres of arable land could be released to grow food for people if grain feeding ended
• 99% of land used in industrial chicken and pig farming goes to growing feed—not housing animals—with feed production accounting for 67% of greenhouse gas emissions from chicken production alone
  
  

A Two-Tiered System That Fails Farmers and Families

The current system creates economic inequities across the food chain. Small specialty crop producers are excluded from commodity programs, while rural communities—surrounded by agricultural production—face some of the nation's highest rates of food insecurity. Over 60% of U.S. fruits and 38% of vegetables are now imported because domestic farmland grows feed instead of food.

Industrial livestock's massive demand for grain has also fueled chemical-intensive monocultures that degrade soil, pollute waterways, reduce biodiversity, and accelerate climate change—undermining the very resources on which long-term food production depends.

"Right now, corn and soybean farmers are trapped in a system that isn't working for them or for hungry Americans. Storage bins are overflowing with unsold crops, and their biggest export markets have disappeared," said Julia Johnson, Head of Corporate and Public Policy at CIWF U.S. "This isn't farmers' fault. It's the result of policy choices that pushed them to grow feed for international industrial farms instead of food for Americans. Our farmers deserve better than this broken cycle. They deserve markets that work, and Americans deserve a food system that actually feeds them."

Demanding a Food-First Farm Bill

The Food Not Feed campaign calls for fundamental reform of the Farm Bill:

1. End Subsidies for Feed Crops by phasing out public payments that prop up feed-based production and redirecting support to diversified, food-first farming that produces fruits, vegetables, grains, and pulses for direct human consumption.
2. Set Binding Targets to reduce the use of human-edible crops for animal feed and mandate transparent public reporting on feed-related food loss to ensure accountability and track progress toward a food-first agriculture system.
3. Adopt a Food-First Land Policy to prioritize arable land for crops destined for human consumption, while protecting soils and biodiversity from destructive monocrop feed systems that deplete ecosystems and undermine climate resilience.
4. Transform Public Procurement by requiring public institutions—such as schools, hospitals, and federal agencies—to prioritize locally-grown food, strengthening local economies and directing taxpayer dollars toward nutritious, sustainable produce.

The campaign launched today with a public petition, an open letter to US and Global leaders, and an interactive tool showing the extent of global food waste.

For more information or interviews, please contact:

Alex Cragun, alex.cragun@ciwf.org, 801-759-6455

About Compassion in World Farming U.S.

Compassion in World Farming is the leading international organization dedicated to reforming industrial animal agriculture and achieving humane, sustainable food production. Founded in 1967, Compassion operates across Europe, the U.S., China, and South Africa, working with governments, corporations, and citizens to transform the global food system.