Catfish farming — Mississippi’s homegrown industry — has been on the ropes. Growers have never operated on fat margins and have struggled to compete against imports from unregulated markets with near slave-labor wages. So just imagine what the past year’s rising feed and fuel costs have done. The good news is that in response to the escalating crisis, U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Keenum has announced that the Agricultural Marketing Service will acquire $5 million worth of farm-raised fish to channel into the school lunch programs across the United States. Come to think of it, that’s pretty good news for school kids, too.

The decision won deserved praise from the Delta Council. It should be noted that the twin founding purposes of the USDA-funded lunch program were to provide fresh and nutritious food to young people and to support America’s growers.

The USDA officials emphasized that the purchase could be the first of several successive purchases in the coming months. Certainly, those purchases should be made and the USDA should also use its authority to make catfish purchases for food banks which distribute meals to underserved populations across the United States on a routine basis.

While there’s every good reason to support open, global trade, the fact is that government must assure U.S. suppliers are not undercut by cheaper, lower quality imports. And when government is buying food, it should select American sellers whenever possible.