Warren Buffett's son launches rural food bank

By JOHN FLESHER, Associated Press

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- Farmer and philanthropist Howard G. Buffett, son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, wants to enlist fellow food producers in a new campaign to fight hunger in rural America.

Buffett and other organizers planned to announce the "Invest an Acre" initiative Thursday. It will encourage farmers around the nation to donate profits from the sale of 1 acre's crop to the charity Feeding America, which will use the money to support food banks in rural communities where advocates say malnutrition is a serious -- if often overlooked -- scourge.

"Poverty and hunger in rural America is very much out of sight, out of mind," said Howard Buffett, who in 1999 established a foundation to help the world's needy. "It doesn't jump out at you. It's not like the brazen images of starving children in Ethiopia ... but that doesn't mean it isn't just as devastating to people who are hungry."

Anti-hunger groups are numerous. Buffett acknowledged in a phone interview that even his idea of challenging farmers to donate a share of their earnings isn't original. But he hopes the support of another partner -- agribusiness conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland Co. -- will help "Invest an Acre" establish a nationwide reach that will set it apart.

ADM will send postcards to 80,000 commodity producers who sell their crops through the company's network of grain elevators asking them to support the program, said Jen Hogan, manager of grain origination. They'll be able to donate when dropping off truckloads of grain or make pledges when signing contracts.