Surplus Commodities: School Lunch Program

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Description

Prior to the initiation of the Surplus Commodities program in 1936, “plow up” and “kill” methods were used to dispose of farm products. The decision to feed farm surplus to hungry school children was made after the public outcry over the Government’s slaughter of 6 million baby pigs.

Text adapted from “Letter about the School Lunch Program” in the September 2009 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) publication Social Education.

Citation

This primary source comes from the Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs.

National Archives Identifier: 195892

Full Citation: Surplus Commodities: School Lunch Program; ca. 1936; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 – 1962; Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs,; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/document/surplus-commodities-school-lunch-program/, December 12, 2025]

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