American farmers and ranchers stand ready to provide food and commodities that would help reduce the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) told the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) last week.
As co-chairman of the Senate Hunger Caucus, Sen. Moran urged USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to prioritize using agricultural export assistance and international food aid programs to help supply markets left unfulfilled due to Russian aggression.
“The invasion of Ukraine by Russia threatens to cause disruptions in global agricultural production, which in turn is already impacting global food prices and availability,” Sen. Moran wrote in a March 3 letter sent to Secretary Vilsack. “As both the immediate and long-term effects on Ukraine’s agriculture sector become clearer, the United States should work quickly to provide the necessary commodities through sale or donation to meet countries’ unsatisfied food and commodity needs.”
Ukraine is a major grain-producing country — ranking as a top 10 global exporter of corn, wheat, sunflower oil, and other commodities — and serves as the predominant grain supplier for multiple countries, including Kazakhstan, Georgia, Turkey, and Egypt, wrote Sen. Moran.
“These countries, and many others that are dependent on Ukrainian exports flowing through the Black Sea, face the urgent challenge of finding new suppliers of grain and food products” during Russia’s bombing of Ukraine, he wrote.
Sen. Moran also reiterated his call for the secretary to collaborate with the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development on using resources currently available in the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust that could help meet the unanticipated global hunger crisis.
Additionally, Sen. Moran expressed concerns about rising food prices in America, which has seen a 7 percent rise in such prices during the past year.
“It is time for the administration to get serious about addressing food inflation,” he wrote. “Multiple factors are contributing to the rising cost of food, including supply chain disruptions, labor shortages and higher input costs. I urge you to work with your colleagues across the administration to address the factors causing higher food prices that are under your influence, including addressing skyrocketing energy prices and eliminating countervailing duties and tariffs on imports of inputs from key suppliers.”