Shuttering of USAID could mean the end of millions in income for Midwest farm operations

U.S. farmers and agribusinesses, including Minnesota ventures from ag giants to processors of yellow split peas, could lose money after President Donald Trump’s administration abruptly closed USAID.

Minnetonka-based Cargill, Inver Grove Heights-based CHS Inc. and Minneapolis trader Sinamco sold a total of $70 million in sorghum, wheat and peas to the agency’s Food for Peace program, according to records shared with the Minnesota Star Tribune on Thursday.

In total, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, last year purchased $2 billion in U.S.-grown crops from corn and soybeans to wheat, sorghum, vegetable oil and peas. Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin farmers were among those selling their crops to the program.

USAID funds projects in some 120 countries aimed at fighting epidemics, educating children, providing clean water and supporting other areas of development.

Nearly a week after federal officials dissolved USAID, anxieties are mounting about what a gap will be left in next year’s order sheets without the foreign food aid customer.

Representatives from Cargill and CHS were not immediately available for comment. A representative from Sinamco did not respond to requests for comment.

Nicole Atchison, CEO of Puris Holdings, which operates a pea protein processing facility in western Minnesota, said her company had not sold last year to USAID, but nationwide the pulse industry does rely on foreign markets.

“USAID plays about 10% to 20% of the total [export] market,” Atchison said. “So it has a role, but it’s not the whole market.”

Half a billion dollars worth of food currently is at risk of spoilage in transit or at warehouses in the U.S., including a facility in Houston where many Midwestern crops sit awaiting ships, said former workers for USAID-related groups.

“This stuff has a best-by date, and it’s not moving because of these executive orders. This is enough food to feed 36 million people,” said one employee of USAID now placed, like the rest of the workers there, on leave. Current and former workers spoke on the condition for anonymity because they are concerned about retaliation.

The speed with which the Trump administration dismantled USAID initially spurred concerns for food-insecure regions, such as Somalia or Ukraine or Venezuela, where American food aid has been deployed to stave off starvation or malnutrition and health care programs help stem disease.

But in the ensuing days, there’s been a growing concern that the dropping of a federal humanitarian food program could also have a doubling-back impact on U.S. farmers.

The Food for Peace program, once a bastion of Cold War-era soft power, was historically a source of income and markets for heartland farmers, with the federal government purchasing surplus crops. And it’s historically had a Midwestern imprint.

The Food for Peace program grew out of legislation first authored in the 1950s by Minnesota Sen. Hubert Humphrey. Housed in President John F. Kennedy’s White House, the foreign food aid program was first administered by George McGovern, a South Dakota congressman who would return to his home state to run for the U.S. Senate.

On Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., pressed farmers during a hearing about how the loss of the Food for Peace program might disadvantage U.S. farm country and rural economies.

“Unfortunately, we have seen a temporary pause on programs ... that is stopping more than 200,000 metric tons of wheat, valued at $65 million, from being purchased from this country,” said Keeff Felty, an Oklahoma wheat farmer and president of the National Association of Wheat Growers.

Amy France, a Kansas farmer and chairwoman of the National Sorghum Producers, responded to Klobuchar’s question by invoking the memory of former Sen. Bob Dole, a strong GOP supporter of government-backed international food aid, and noting: “A lot of our sorghum goes to Africa, and we certainly look to stress that U.S. commodities be delivered to these countries, not the cash.”

U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, a Democrat representing portions of southern Minnesota farmland, slammed the attacks on USAID, saying the move “hurts the rural economy and damages the proud heritage of American farmers feeding the world.”

Over the weekend, representatives from tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, shut down USAID, locking employees out of email and technology. A notice on the agency website said as of last Friday all personnel were placed on administrative leave with few exceptions.

USAID programs have ground to a halt, with no more funds going to them at this time. Trump’s plan is for a refocused USAID program to be housed in the State Department. That would require Congressional approval.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said officials were reaching out to USAID missions abroad to determine which programs would be exempted from the work stoppage.

Federal officials did not respond to requests for comment. The Food for Peace program is typically funded through the Farm Bill, which is set to expire this year.