In an article published on Monday, the Wall Street Journal takes an in-depth look at the barter industry, and barter in general, including an interesting piece on Government to Business barter:
Sometimes U.S. government agencies trade with business entities, as in the case of an innovative barter program known as Stocks-for-Food.
The program, introduced in July 2007, allows farmers to secure government loans by using a portion of their crops as collateral. If the farmer opts to forfeit the crops rather than repay the loan with cash, the Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corp. takes title to the goods. Instead of selling the forfeited commodities on the open market and depositing the proceeds in the U.S. Treasury, USDA officials exchange them with U.S. food processors for processed, finished food products such as canned vegetables, peanut butter, canned meat and flour.
The processed foods are then distributed via USDA food-assistance programs. Since the program began, USDA donations have exceeded $100 million.
See the full story at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574446892208327428.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
