06/27/05 More Emerson Trust wheat for Africa

06/27/05 More Emerson Trust wheat for Africa

Farm and Ranch June 27, 2005 Earlier this month President Bush announced a Hunger Initiative to address the emergency food situation in Africa. Bush: " "The United States is committing to expand our efforts to relieve hunger, reduce debt, fight disease on the African continent." As part of that commitment Agriculture Deputy Secretary Chuck Connor announced last week that the USDA will make available up to 500-thousand metric tons of wheat from the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust to relieve suffering and avert famine in Africa, especially in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The wheat from the Emerson Trust will be shipped as emergency food relief under P.L. 480, Title II, a program administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development. It will be distributed mainly through the World Food Program and private voluntary organizations and is expected to arrive over the next few months. Of the total 500-thousand tons, USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service says the U.S. Agency for International Development has requested that 200-thousand tons be soft white wheat and 300-thousand tons be hard red winter wheat. To accommodate the request the Commodity Credit Corporation may exchange, or swap, released Emerson Trust wheat stocks for wheat positioned for export shipment. The CCC may also sell wheat at interior storage locations and buy wheat in U.S. port locations. Prior to this release the Emerson Trust held 1.4 million tons of wheat of which just under 533-thousand were soft white. The trust also held 107 million dollars in cash. The Emerson Trust is authorized to hold up to four million tons of wheat and other commodities. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
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