USDBC Delegation Visits DC to talk Food Aid

A six-member USDBC delegation visited Washington DC last week with the distinct mission of expressing the industry’s commitment to provide food to Ukraine and other food-insecure nations. These are two distinct issues, the conflict in Ukraine requiring its own response to the devastation and a separate response to food-insecure nations that will now face additional challenges due to the current global outlook. USDBC has always participated in U.S. government food assistance programs but recently has seen dry bean tonnage decrease to negligible amounts as implementing agencies have called forward other pulses. As a result, the USDBC delegation met with important stakeholders and decision-makers from USAID, USDA, The World Food Programme (WFP), and Legislative contacts.

The global food security situation is now so severe that on Friday, in response to pressure from the private sector, Congress, and WFP, USAID and USDA released all of the reserve funding held for global food emergencies, in the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust (BEHT). BEHT was created to buy U.S. commodities to respond to unanticipated food crises internationally. According to USDA, Over $600 million in funding from BEHT will be used to purchase and transport hard red winter wheat, soft white wheat, yellow split peas, lentils, sorghum, vegetable oil, RUSF (Ready-to-Use Supplemental Food), and SuperCereal Plus. The commodities will be sent to Yemen, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan, countries suffering from food inflation, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute. While no beans are included in the initial BEHT commodity list, the list is not finalized and USDBC is hopeful that dry beans will be sent to help vulnerable populations in bean-consuming nations such as Yemen. USAID and USDA are utilizing the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust for the first time since 2014 to buy the commodities.