On Oct. 16, we recognized World Food Day, a somber reminder that hundreds of millions of people worldwide still lack consistent access to food. We at the Campaign for America First International Assistance, or CAFIA, want to use World Food Day as a call to action for President Donald Trump and all Americans to help fight global hunger.
Many Americans who lament poverty and food insecurity among their neighbors and in their own communities ask a fair question: why should we focus on hunger abroad when there are clear needs at home?
It’s a good question, and fortunately has a clear answer.
We can strengthen American farmers — and our food supply
At CAFIA, we believe that fighting global hunger and putting America first are goals uniquely aligned in their aim to strengthen American farmers, advance national
security, grow our economy and project American leadership across the globe, ensuring that we, and not China or Russia, are leading in the 21st century.
And, perhaps surprisingly to some, national and congressional-level polling commissioned earlier this year shows the American people, including conservatives and so-called MAGA voters, agree.
In congressional districts and states like Pennsylvania, California, Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, Maine, Ohio and Alaska, to name a few, support for international food assistance is overwhelming when it is rightfully framed as a strategic investment in American strength. Nationally, more than three-quarters of 2024 Trump voters said programs like Food for Peace align with an America First vision, and the same number believe in continuing efforts to fight global hunger when those programs also benefit the United States.
That support grows even stronger when Americans understand another critical fact: these programs directly support American farmers.
For decades, U.S. international food assistance has relied heavily on commodities grown right here at home: whether it’s wheat from Kansas, corn and soybeans from Iowa and Wisconsin, or rice from Arkansas and Louisiana. These commonsense international assistance programs create stable, predictable demand for American agriculture, helping our farmers, who are the backbone of the economy in so many states.
Food aid programs are reliable export channels that prioritize American-grown crops and American shipping. Supporting these programs leads to more jobs across our economy, from our farms to our ports and transportation networks.
This is what “America First” looks like in practice.
We must leverage our unmatched agricultural productivity to feed our own nation and strengthen the economic foundation of rural America, while rejecting the false choice between helping Americans and helping others around the world.
Food insecurity fuels terrorism, instability and ultimately migration, and those consequences can have a direct impact here at home and abroad. Food insecurity can strain borders, as we’ve seen in Europe and at our southern border, and, unfortunately, increase the likelihood of costly military interventions later to deal with extremist groups that take advantage of the suffering for their own gain.
All this means that fighting global hunger serves as more than a moral victory or support for our farmers. It is also preventative, and far more cost-effective than responding to crises after they spiral out of control or engaging in more overseas military conflicts that Americans have, understandably, grown weary of.
America must continue to lead the world to ensure food security
Another insight from our polling shows most Americans have wildly incorrect assumptions about how much we spend on international assistance. On average, respondents believed the impact on the federal budget was 12% annually, with some saying north of 30%, when the real answer is less than 1% of the federal budget goes toward international assistance.
When people learn the negligible impact international assistance has on our spending, support for international food assistance sharply increases across party lines, especially among self-identified conservatives and supporters of Trump.
What Americans, and especially supporters of Trump, reject — and rightly so — is wasteful, unaccountable spending that fails to produce results.
For too long, international assistance has been framed as charity alone, our civic duty, America’s responsibility after having freed the world from the grips of fascism in World War II. That framing is divorced from national interest and lacks the accountability Americans, across party lines, seek in government spending. Critics of international assistance have been right to demand better.
But our answer cannot be to abandon these programs that have made such an incredible difference in the lives of hundreds of millions around the world. We have to reform them, demand greater accountability for the taxpayer and continue to carry American interests to every corner of the globe.
Trump has advanced a more disciplined approach rooted in accountability, reciprocity, and results, including innovative public-private partnerships that have doubled the impact of taxpayer dollars by matching them with private philanthropic support. This new approach has also prioritized bilateral partnerships, encouraged self-sufficiency, and ensured that American resources are used strategically.
We should recognize what both the data and common sense tell us: Americans support international food assistance when it aligns with American interests and when it delivers real value to communities here at home.
Putting America first doesn’t mean ceding all our international interests and returning only to the Western Hemisphere. It requires leading with purpose and using our resources intelligently by supporting the farmers who feed our nation and, through smart policy, help feed the world. And it means using American strength to prevent crises, stabilize regions and build a more secure future.
Trump has the opportunity to build a legacy that will be remembered throughout history by continuing to invest in Food for Peace and innovative public-private partnerships like Operation End Starvation. With an additional $1 billion invested in Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food, Trump could end childhood malnutrition while supporting farmers in Iowa, Wisconsin, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New York and dozens of other states across the country.
That is how we can make a difference for generations of Americans and global citizens to come - by investing in our great economic agricultural engine to feed the world and spread American values and goodwill at the same time.
Let’s get it done.
Nate Soule is the executive director of the Campaign for America First International Assistance, or CAFIA, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization dedicated to educating Americans about critical programs that deliver strategic international assistance that create and sustain American jobs.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: We can put America first in the fight against global hunger | Opinion
