One of the world’s biggest charities is turning down U.S. federal assistance, saying that accepting such help conflicts with its mission, reports The New York Times.

The humanitarian group CARE is rejecting $45-million in annual food aid on the grounds that subsidized American farm goods compete with African crops and force prices to decrease.

The U.S. government buys products from American agricultural companies, sends them abroad to aid groups, who then sell the goods in poor countries to make money to support their programs. The process garners approximately $180-million a year.

Fifteen other groups, including World Vision, who have formed a coalition known as the Alliance for Food Aid, disagree with CARE’s stance, saying the food program can help prevent sharp fluctuations in food costs in the countries in which they work.

CARE official George Odo says, “What’s happened to humanitarian organizations over the years is that a lot of us have become contractors on behalf of the government. That’s sad but true. It compromised our ability to speak up when things went wrong.”

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