The war in Ukraine has exacerbated food insecurity around the world — and food aid experts are looking to the 2023 farm bill for solutions.
Ukraine’s vast grain supplies normally feed 400 million people a year, but the war has “cut off supplies” and raised food costs for consumers in rich and poor countries, according to World Food Program (WFP).
US lawmakers are currently drafting the farm bill, an omnibus agriculture act passed every five years, which includes provisions for international food aid.
The farm bill authorizes several domestic and international food assistance programs. The legislation does not fully authorize the funding for this assistance, which must be decided in separate appropriations, but outlines how each program will run and how it will use future funds.
Lawmakers can use the draft that must be passed in the farm bill to change these programs if necessary.
Experts such as WFP’s Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer Rebecca Middleton hope to see “strong approval” for food aid support in the 2023 farm bill – especially the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust, said said Middleton.
The Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust is established over time and can be cashed out with the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture.
In April 2022, $282 million was withdrawn from the Emerson Trust to support countries in need after the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that threatened food supplies in six major countries facing insecurity in food: Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Yemen.
The withdrawn money was used to purchase US goods and strengthen existing aid to the countries, according to a spokesperson for the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Emerson Trust was renamed to honor former Mississippi Rep. Bill Emerson in 1998 but was originally established in 1980 as a wheat reserve. Due to rising food prices, in 2008, the USDA converted the trust into a cash reserve that can be used to purchase US commodities in times of need.
The trust was recently authorized in the 2018 farm bill, and Congress should reauthorize the Emerson Trust in the 2023 law. Congress also has the authority to replenish the fund after it is withdrawn.
“For all accounts [in the farm bill]the one we are really interested in is the Emerson Trust because it is an account that is not well known, but is very important in situations like we find ourselves in 2022,” said Middleton.
“This is absolutely essential assistance that the US has been able to provide because of that emergency account at this time of historic need.”
The 2018 farm bill does not account for crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the Russia-Ukraine conflict, both of which have had a severe impact on supply and triggered additional aid from the federal government, so the Emerson Trust is a important resource in recent times. years.
“I mean, the demand is incredible and then compounded by the shock to the global food supply chain of the Ukraine crisis,” Middleton said.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the former ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee’s subcommittee on nutrition, said in a statement that he supports keeping international food aid well-funded under the new law.
“The FY 2023 farm bill reauthorization should continue to build on the trajectory of the past two decades and ensure that the US, in partnership with American farmers and non-profits, can respond rapidly and comprehensively to global humanitarian emergencies and invest in longer-term resilience and sustainability, especially for small farmers, so they can better withstand future economic and climate shocks,” McGovern said in a statement on The Hill.
In addition to the Emerson Trust withdrawal, the Biden administration committed $2.76 billion to global food security last summer, on top of Biden and other G7 leaders contributing $4.5 billion to 2022 issue.
High fuel and fertilizer prices, theft of farm equipment, destruction of agricultural facilities, and the blockade of Black Sea ports all threaten to push millions of people internationally into poverty, hunger, and malnutrition starting in 2022, according to the White House. The Horn of Africa is facing a severe crisis due to prolonged drought and famine.
Henry Dalton, vice president of policy for US Wheat Associates, hopes to find solutions in the 2023 farm bill that prioritizes the use of US commodities as a “foundation” for donations to regions in need.
“We have a huge priority placed on making sure that hungry people around the world are fed and the farm bill programs do a great job of doing that with commodities,” Dalton said.
He added that it is “difficult to say” how much agricultural law policies will change from previous years, but the Russia-Ukraine war has exacerbated existing hunger and food insecurity due to global conflicts such as in Ethiopia and Yemen.
Dalton said the war in Ukraine has made the need for international food aid more prominent.
“I think that, if anything, one of the big effects is that the war has put global food security more on the minds of a lot of people,” Dalton said, “and maybe shined a little light on it.” that light on some of these programs that usually fly under the radar.”
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