KFU encouraged by Food for Peace move to USDA

Kansas Farmers Union (KFU), longtime supporter of P.L. 480 Food for Peace, is pleased to learn that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) has reached an interagency agreement with the U.S. State Department to take on the work of Food for Peace.

Food for Peace, once part of the now defunct U.S. Agency for International Development, was defunded as part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts in early 2025. Following the cut to Food for Peace, U.S. Representative Tracey Mann and U.S. Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas introduced legislation that would move the program to USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Since introducing the legislation, though, neither the House or Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings on the bill.

“I am glad to hear that Food for Peace will have a new home at USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service,” said KFU Executive Director Nick Levendofsky. “While this is an encouraging step in the right direction, I worry there won’t be enough funding or capacity to meet the needs of those across the world struggling with food insecurity. I am hopeful that Congress and the administration recognize these concerns and funds and staffs the program at the level it was prior to the DOGE cuts,” he said.

KFU member and farmer emeritus Tom Giessel of Larned, KS has been a passionate advocate for Food for Peace and recently traveled with a group of KFU members to Washington, D.C. to lobby for its continued funding. “Farmers shipping grain to where people are hungry – that we did these kinds of things is really what made America great,” Giessel said.

KFU looks forward to supporting USDA’s efforts to ensure that Food for Peace remains a viable program to address food insecurity across the globe.