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(NAFB.com) – The Biden Administration Wednesday announced $670 million in food assistance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Department of Agriculture and U.S. Agency for International Development will draw down the full balance of the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust. USAID will use the $282 million from the trust to acquire U.S. food commodities for Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Yemen. USDA will provide $388 million in additional funding through the Commodity Credit Corporation to cover transportation, shipping, handling, and other associated costs.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says, “America’s farmers, ranchers and producers are uniquely positioned through their productivity, and through the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust to help.” The trust is a special authority renamed for Congressman Bill Emerson in 1998, that enables USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance to respond to unanticipated food crises abroad when other resources are not available.

This is the first time since 2014 the U.S. government has used the emergency funding authority.