USAID Cuts Hit Home in the Heartland 

U.S. farms that have sold commodities to USAID are in limbo following a 90-day suspension and stop-work order on U.S. foreign aid. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has issued a waiver for the distribution of emergency food assistance, but some organizations say confusion and shipment pauses have continued. 

Backstory: USAID is the U.S. Agency for International Development, and it dates back to the 1960s. The roughly 10K-person department buys an average of $2B in small grains and pulse crops a year as part of its humanitarian food aid. USDA’s Commodity Credit Corp (CCC) has also said it has a “parent/child” relationship with USAID.

By the numbers: 

• The USAID stop-work order disrupted or halted at least 687K metric tons of food aid 
• Paused shipments and purchases of U.S. food aid were worth more than $340M
• 41% of food aid from USAID is sourced from U.S. farms
• 10-20% of global pulse exports go through USAID 

Soundbites: “USAID plays a critical role in reducing hunger around the world while sourcing markets for the surplus foods America’s farmers and ranchers grow.” — Dave Salmonsen, American Farm Bureau Federation 

Waiver woes: Rubio noted that organizations should have been able to apply for waivers to continue food aid work. However, the president of Refugees International stated that exemptions in the waiver process have to be requested by USAID staff, who have been laid off and can no longer file exemptions. 

Where this goes: There’s uncertainty in how long the pause on U.S. foreign aid will continue and what the long-term impacts to the farm economy will be. The Congressional Research Service has stated that Trump abolishing USAID is illegal because it’s an independent establishment and would require congressional authorization to abolish or consolidate.