Food for Peace Program Shifts from USAID to USDA: All Functions Now Under Agriculture Department

This legislation completely restructures how the massive Food for Peace Act is administered, moving the entire operation—lock, stock, and barrel—from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) over to the Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Effective immediately upon enactment, all functions, duties, assets, rules, and contracts related to the Food for Peace Act will be transferred to the Secretary of Agriculture. Think of it like this: the USDA, which already handles domestic food assistance and agricultural policy, is now also running the primary U.S. international food aid program. Any existing law or regulation that previously mentioned the USAID Administrator in connection with this program is now automatically updated to refer to the Secretary of Agriculture.

The Shift: Bringing Foreign Aid Under the Farm Umbrella

The most significant change here is the centralization of food-related policy under one roof. The Food for Peace Act funds critical international assistance, often providing food and agricultural commodities to regions facing crises. By moving it to the USDA, the bill aligns foreign food aid with the agency that manages domestic agriculture, procurement, and food supply chains. For the average person, this means the government entity that handles everything from farm subsidies to school lunches will now also be managing global famine relief.

One key provision ensures continuity: the Secretary of Agriculture is granted the power to issue interim final rules to keep the program running smoothly during the transition. This means they can quickly update existing regulations without the usual slow, public comment process. While this speeds up the transfer and prevents aid delivery hiccups, it also allows significant policy shifts to take effect immediately, potentially bypassing public scrutiny on how the aid program is run.

What Stays and What Goes

While the program itself moves, the bill specifically mandates that the crucial Famine Early Warning Systems Network—the system that analyzes climate and food data to predict where famines might strike—must remain operational under the USDA. This network is a vital tool for preventing food crises, and its continued function is non-negotiable under this bill.

However, the move isn't complete isolation. The bill requires the Secretary of Agriculture to coordinate with the Secretary of State when carrying out responsibilities under Title II of the Food for Peace Act. This means that while the USDA handles the logistics and procurement of the aid, the State Department will still be involved in the diplomatic and foreign policy aspects of where and how that aid is distributed. Basically, the USDA handles the food, but the State Department keeps an eye on the politics.