Author: Steve Hansch

Book Review: We Fed an Island – the True Story of Rebuilding Puerto Rico, One Meal at a Time

The book, “We Fed An Island – One Meal at a Time” by Chef Jose Andres (2018, Harper Collins Publisher) describes how the NGO, World Central Kitchen (WCK), reacted to the 2017 Hurricane Maria after it hit Puerto Rico, knocking out power and destroying homes. Several days after the hurricane, Chef Jose Andres traveled to Puerto Rico and began organizing kitchens to cook hot meals, largely sancocho (stew) and sandwiches, particularly ham and cheese sandwiches (“the key ingredient was the mayonnaise. Lots and lots of mayonnaise mixed with tomato ketchup.”). At its peak, WCK provided 150,000 meals per day, mobilizing an estimated 20,000 volunteers and partnering with local churches, restaurants, the Southern Baptist Convention and, in places, Mercy Corps.

WCK received donations of food products from various companies and organizations both on and off the island. This included staples, produce, and other necessary items. As WCK received press publicity and donations, it scaled up purchases of bulk foods from the United States.

Andres begins the book explaining Puerto Rico’s history as a U.S. colony. He also explains how World Central Kitchen came about its name: “it was founded in the basement of what was then Washington D.C.’s central homes shelter.”  In Puerto Rica, he describes complex interactions with FEMA, President Trump, local authorities and his disappointment with the Red Cross and Salvation Army.

Andres describes the challenges of roads that were destroyed, shortages of water, and poor communications among relief organizations. He organized several kitchens across the island, while hiring local cooks, chefs and drivers among those unable to work their normal jobs. Andres writes repeatedly about circumventing other relief forums or channels because of his impatience with what he calls red tape. Andres’ focus in Puerto Rico and in other WCK programs is to feed people as much as possible in the short-term and leave other aspects of rehabilitation, resettlement and livelihoods to other actors.  Despite the book’s subtitle, the story is not, strictly speaking, about rebuilding or recovery, but about feeding people as a form of relief.  Andres also distinguishes his approach — hot food — from that of other relief models by other organizations which aim to provide the basics for people to feed themselves.

Andres credits his success, and that of his colleagues, to the complexities of running restaurants.  Running restaurants, he argues, requires the same skills as managing disaster relief.

Note:  In 2019 World Hunger Education Service (the NGO publishing this article in Hunger Notes) donated to WCK for its work.

Note:  Though WHES has written repeatedly to WCK for an interview, both to staff and to Chef Andres, no reply has been received.

-Contributed by Steven Hansch, Member of World Hunger Education Service Board

In Memoriam: US Famine Early Warning System (FEWS), and SERVIR

March 19, 2026    The program which many experts considered to be the most effective at stopping famines and starvation and arguably the single most valuable aid program of all time, has ended its 40 year run of success, as the White House shut it down, alongside hundreds of other global initiatives, without review, discussion or debate.  The “Famine Early Warning System” aka “FEWS” was created to address the longstanding problem that U.S. food aid, which takes months to plan, procure and ship across oceans, kept arriving too late to save lives where there was famine.

FEWS has prevented the deaths of an estimated 10 million children from famine during its tenure.  FEWS played an important role in the decline in famine deaths seen in the last century.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) created FEWS following the late famine relief efforts of the mid 1980s when famine hit Ethiopia, Sudan and the Sahel.  In those famines, US food aid saved many lives, but could have saved more, and prevented mass forced migration (the uprooting of refugees) if food aid had reached those in need at earlier stages of crisis.  The President of Tufts University (in Massachusetts), Dr. Jean Mayer, a nutritionist, proposed a new famine early warning initiative to the head of USAID at the time, and the new program was born.  In the decades since, US food aid became dramatically more effective at addressing emergency food needs in a timely way, in the process saving millions of lives.

From its inception, FEWS cleverly combined data from a range of different sources about local crop production in countries from Somalia to Mali, from Afghanistan to Haiti.  FEWS obtained and compared data from satellite imagery of fields under cultivation, ground visitations, rainfall, local retail prices, surveys of malnutrition, and distress sales by households (an early indicator of intention to migrate).  Its methods elegantly blended insights from markets, biology, climate, and remote sensing.  FEWS brought together contributions from other parts of the government:  including NASA, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NOAA, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Various universities including the University of California/Santa Barbara and the University of Maryland also provided critical satellite monitoring and analysis, all under USAID management, backed by networks of field analysts and scientists.  The first American group leading FEWS was Tulane University School of Tropical Medicine.

Graduate courses in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) taught about FEWS as a case study of a successful application of layering information in multi-colored maps to target food aid where it was needed most.  Courses in schools of public health taught about FEWS as well.  Humanitarian aid became a science.

USAID renamed the program “FEWS NET” and funded it to avoid appearance of conflict of interest to inflate food needs through funding appeals.  The cost of FEWS NET has been a small fraction of the value of the humanitarian food aid that USAID distributes. As FEWS matured and became a global network, FEWS NET, it provided ongoing, real-time reporting about a several dozen countries spanning continents and became a mainstay of USAID, being renewed continuously.  FEWS provided guidance not only to US food aid, but food from other donor countries including Canada, Japan, Europe and Australia.  To emphasize this collaboration with other contributing nations, in 2000, the initiative was renamed to Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) to emphasize the importance of collaboration with international and local information systems.

FEWS NET integrated varied data to build the most-likely scenarios to project food insecurity conditions in designated countries four and eight months in advance, indicating where timely humanitarian food aid might save lives and livelihoods.  FEWS NET’s analysis have answered the who, what, where, when and why. FEWS NET also reviews livestock conditions, markets and herder mobility (and fisheries, where important), along with crop conditions.  In recent decades, conflict became the biggest driver of food insecurity due to broken market links, shrinking livelihood options, death or injury of main breadwinners, and population displacement, leading to aid dependence.

No other public source has provided this kind of independent and globally consistent food insecurity intelligence.  FEWS NET briefings to all branches of the US Government, UN and NGO community are well respected and eagerly sought.  FEWS NET also reviewed livestock conditions, markets and herder mobility (and fisheries, where important), along with crop conditions.  In recent decades, conflict became the biggest driver of food insecurity due to broken market links, shrinking livelihood options, death or injury of main breadwinners, and population displacement, leading to aid dependence.

Famines will continue to occur, but prevention and early mitigation and response will be hampered now in the absence of FEWS.

In addition to the termination of FEWS, the USG also terminated other early warning projects, such as SERVIR.  The SERVIR program was a joint initiative of NASA and USAID that leveraged satellite-based Earth observation data to support climate resilience, disaster preparedness, and prevention in poorer countries. Established in 2005, SERVIR’s mission is to “connect space to village,” making NASA’s Earth data accessible for locally-driven environmental and development solutions. SERVIR tracked food security, water resources, weather, land use, and natural hazards.  SERVIR partnered with regional organizations in Amazonia, Eastern and Southern Africa, Hindu Kush Himalaya, Mekong, West Africa, and Central America.

Other sources about the demise of FEWS:   New Humanitarian about Data Streams;  and National Public Radio’s piece.

About Servir, see:     https://nasawatch.com/trumpspace/usaid-erasure-impact-nasa-halts-servir-solicitations/ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20210022715/downloads/Anderson2021_Getting-ahead-of-disaster-impacts-EO-CB_20211015.pdf

Prayer Vigil for Foreign Aid Unites Evangelicals for Aid

A prayer vigil for foreign aid was held March 11, among some 50 Christians, at the Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, attended by Bread for the World, World Relief, Compassion International, Catholic Relief Services, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, World Renew, Hope International, the Accord Network, and others.

Speakers called on Congress, the Administration and the American people to re-install aid programs serving the hungry around the world.

According to Ministry Watch:  Eugene Cho, president and CEO of  Bread for the World, denounced the “broad, un-targeted cuts” recently implemented at the U.S. Agency for International Development as an assault on vulnerable populations all over the globe.

America Farm Workers Face Food Insecurity

Investigative article in Grist covers challenges facing farm workers in the US including high food prices and low compensation.

https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/farmworker-hunger-crisis-climate-inflation-grocery-costs/

“The people who feed America are going hungry:  
Climate change is escalating a national crisis, leaving farmworkers with empty plates and mounting costs” written by Ayurella Horn-Muller
Staff Writer

Including:  “Historically, hunger rates among farmworkers, as with other low-income communities, have been at their worst during the winter due to the inherent seasonality of a job that revolves around growing seasons. But climate change and inflation have made food insecurity a growing, year-round problem.”

Feeding America’s Claire Babineaux-Fonteno Cited by Time Magazine

The newly released Time Magazine review (Feb. 20, 2025) of “Women of the Year” features Claire Babineaux-Fonteno for her nation-wide advocacy to end hunger.   (https://time.com/7216387/feeding-america-ceo-claire-babineaux-fontenot/)

Babineux-Fonteno heads the nonprofit Feeding America, described by Time as “the country’s largest domestic hunger-­relief organization—overseeing a network of more than 200 food banks and 60,000 partners.”

Time quotes her:  “Babineaux-Fontenot embraces the nonpartisan nature of her work. ‘No matter what your political positions are in this country, people consistently believe that people deserve to have access to nutritious food.'”

A lifelong volunteer with nonprofits and boards, Babineux-Fontenot worked at Wallmart before joining Feeding America, including as executive vice president and global treasurer.  She was recognized by Sothern Methodist University with their Distinguished Alumni Award.

Interviewed by The Cut in December, she explained how “Advocating on behalf of people experiencing hunger is a big part of my role. I get to lift up their aspirations.”

Feeding America, based in Chicago, Illinois, was founded in the 1960s.

The organization supports mobile food distributions, school feeding, disaster relief, public advocacy, education, elderly feeding and other activities.

Their annual report for 2024 explains that their network supported almost 6 billion meals in the twelve months from mid 2023 to mid 2024.  Feeding America raised $5.2 billion in 2024.

Questions to Ask about Aid from USAID

The US Government Agency that Brings Aid – USAID

USAID, started in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy.  Estimates are that some 3 billion people in 150 countries have benefited directly from U.S. food assistance      . The Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, a part of USAID, identifies food aid      needs in close consultation with foreign governments     .

A common misperception is that the US spends a large percentage of its budget on foreign aid. In reality, it is less than 1% and is widely seen within government as providing some of the most bang for the buck in terms of its return.

The US Administration is asking some good questions of programs across the US government– is this right for America, are we kept safer, does it promote US interests?

As things are continuing to move quickly     , there are some broader questions to ask about USAID in regards to the new administration’s direction.  For example:

  • Are all or most the USAID programs harming US interests?
  • How does humanitarian aid – the supplying of food, water, medicines and other life saving measures – improve the lives of peoples in nearly 130 countries? Is the withdrawal of this aid make us more or less American? That is, does humanitarian aid reflect our values and support to people and countries in need? Is humanitarian aid promoting US interests?
  • Will the abrupt withdrawal of humanitarian aid programs worldwide cause countries to trust America more or less in the future?
  • How will this impact the hundreds of non-profit, non-governmental organizations who have been working with USAID, their operations, their staff and American volunteers, their reach to the most vulnerable, if their resources are cut?
  • Are we more or less safe? Does the trust that other countries have in the USA matter in terms of the overall safety of Americans? Will our adversaries step in and develop relationships with those foreign people’s trust we now might have lost?

These are important and forward-looking questions that should be addressed by government and law makers at this critical time. There are a number of other such questions we should ask.

The good work of USAID in over 100 countries worldwide merits immediate attention and fair review.

Margie Ferris Morris

Former Chairman of the Board, World Hunger Education Service

(Margie worked for decades in the field, as a nutritionist and food expert and has taught about international aid frequently including Tulane and George Washington Universities.

 

Career, Long-term, Retired USAID Experts Speak about USAID’s Value

February 13, 2025:   The United States Agency for International Development Association’s Alumni Association, of retired USAID experts, petitioned new Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also the USAID Administrator, with this letter this week, citing a few of the many USAID-supported projects and programs worldwide that are cost effective and help others on “behalf of the American people”:

USAID Adds Value in Disaster Response, Says Former Hunger Notes Chair

Opinion piece from the former WHES Board Chair:   Most people do not realize what a huge mistake it would be to eliminate the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as appears to be underway here in February 2025.  It would be like throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater.  I cannot imagine that either Elon Musk or President Trump are aware of full range of ramifications this elimination would have on the world.  If we as a nation eliminate USAID whole cloth, then all the disaster response and humanitarian efforts including the USAID Disaster Assistance (DART) teams would stop.  I know it has been said that the State Department will maintain emergency food and material aid.  In practical terms it is unclear how that can happen, when staff with institutional memory are gone, grant making ability is gone, and the  DART is gone.

I recently stepped down as Volunteer Board Chair from the World Hunger Education Service (WHES) Board.  WHES was started 50 years ago to inform the US Congress about international hunger issues and needs.  It widened its scope in the internet age beyond Congress to the public at large.

Prior to my role on the Board, I worked 23 years in USAID.  My USAID career was with the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) within USAID. At OFDA, I initially served as a contingency planner and nutrition advisor then as a member of the Senior Management Team and Division Director for the Technical Assistance Division which included all the assistance sectors for disaster relief; Health, Pandemic response, Clean Water and Sanitation, Famine and Nutrition, Volcano and Earthquake risks, Floods and Storm risk, Pestilence, Shelter, Anti-trafficking in persons and Protection of Vulnerables.

Growth of Disasters

OFDA grew as post-cold war disasters and responses around the world became greater.  I was in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide, then DR Congo which had a internal war taking place as well as Sudan and Kosovo.  Historically, disaster assistance was modeled on refugee camps; including feeding, shelter, health care, and food distribution.  As internal wars increased, the global number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) became greater than the number of refugees. As a result, humanitarian assistance became more dangerous and more complicated.  I was familiar with refugee assistance; before OFDA, I worked in Cambodian refugee camps on the Thai border; in Cambodia on health programs with World Vision, and the Red Cross and then in UN refugee camps in Congo during the Rwandan genocide.

Operational DART Teams

Until last week, USAID, through OFDA, funded many different non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like Catholic Relief Services, International Rescue Committee, and World Vision.  However, USAID, through OFDA, was also operational; it had the ability to send Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DART) to disasters.  The purpose of these teams was to report, to coordinate the US efforts and to fund humanitarian partners.  This was a much better model to keep an eye on the funds, literally in the field.

Another clear advantage was the DART also became a platform for coordination for the whole US Government.  As a DART team leader, I witnessed this on the DART during the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004; The US Navy, Marines, US Air Force reserve, Embassy Jakarta, and USAID all assisted there, in a coordinated effort.  The response dramatically changed Indonesian public opinion of the United States from negative to positive.

I also witnessed this on the 2014-15 DART when the DART platform was used to combat and eventually defeat the Ebola epidemic.  This involved US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USAID, Embassies in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone and US Defense Department.

Ramifications

During this aid freeze, NGOs will go bankrupt.  The US Government was the largest single supporter of global disaster response and humanitarian efforts.  In my experience, it has always had bipartisan support, and goodwill from the House and the Senate. It would be a terrible mistake to continue down this destructive path.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regenerative Agriculture to Mitigate Hunger: Thurow’s Latest Book

Book Review:    Roger Thurow’s Against the Grain:  How Farmers Around the Globe are Transforming Agriculture to Nourish the World and Heal the Planet (2024, Publisher:  Agate Surrey)

American journalist, Roger Thurow, has written consistently about global hunger and food issues for many years.  In his latest globe-spanning book he highlights the work of farmers who are “going against the grain” by adopting regenerative agriculture practices.  These methods prioritize soil health, biodiversity, and natural processes, leading to more resilient and productive farms. Thurow introduces readers to farmers in diverse regions, from the American Midwest to Africa and India, who are successfully implementing these practices and achieving remarkable results.

Thurow visits a dozen countries in different continents telling the story of local responses to the upward pressures of world population growth and the strains on global food chains.  He highlights the UN World Food Programme, the NGO World Vision, the International Livestock Research Institute, and others.

Against the Grain’s central theme revolves around the idea that industrial agriculture, with its reliance on monoculture, chemical inputs, and intensive farming methods, has come at a significant cost to both the environment and human health.  Thurow argues that this common approach is unsustainable and undermines the long-term viability of food production.

One of the book’s strengths is its ability to explain the connections between individual farming practices and global concerns such as climate change, food security, and public health. Thurow demonstrates how sustainable agriculture can play a crucial role in mitigating climate change by sequestering carbon in the soil and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He emphasizes the importance of diverse, nutrient-rich diets in combating malnutrition and promoting public health.  He interviews dozens of farmers, some of whom farmers incurred risks to change their  long-term practices to work with nature and terrace their land to catch more rainwater and prevent soil runoff; to plant a diverse range of vegetables that would balance the nutrients in the soil; to replaced commercial fertilizers with organic matter from their own farms;  to plant more trees and drought-resistant grains; and then shared their success with neighbors and communities.

Regenerative agriculture is a holistic approach focused on restoring and enhancing the health and biodiversity of agricultural ecosystems. Its primary goals include regenerating soil, increasing carbon sequestration, improving water retention, and promoting biodiversity. Key practices include crop rotation, agroforestry, composting, reduced tillage, cover cropping, and integrating livestock in ways that mirror natural ecosystems.

Unlike conventional farming, which aims for sustainability, regenerative agriculture goes a step further by actively enhancing the land’s health rather than simply preserving its current state. The overarching aim is to create systems that are ecologically resilient, economically viable, and socially beneficial.

Throughout the book, Thurow shares examples from diverse ecosystems across the globe where regenerative agriculture has successfully rejuvenated soil and improved farm productivity. However, the book does not delve deeply into economic profitability or provide technical analyses of how specific practices restore farmland. Instead, Thurow provides accessible, layman-friendly descriptions using personal stories and real-life examples.

Here are some of the practices highlighted across different regions:

Location   Practices
Ethiopia Rift Valley   Water catchment, terraces, intercropping, tree planting
Uganda   Tree planting, intercropping, livestock integration, amaranth, mucuna beans, crop rotation
Kenya   Dairy management with perennial forage (Brachiaria grass), transforming garbage dumps with greenhouses, chickens, and rabbits
Indo-Gangetic Plain   Crop diversity, drip irrigation, cold chain management, composting
Pan American Highlands   Preservation of genetic diversity, crop diversity, drip irrigation, composting with crop residue
US Great Plains   Zero tillage, composting with manure, planting Kernza (a perennial forage and grain crop)

 

Across all of these examples, composting, crop rotation, and intercropping are central practices used to maximize production while simultaneously restoring soil health. Thurow emphasizes that for many smallholder farmers, “livestock are the ATMs of smallholder farmers,” representing their wealth storage. One farmer from the Great Plains shared his positive experience with Kernza, a perennial crop that provides both grain and livestock forage: “Once planted, perennials keep growing year after year, yielding multiple harvests.”

Thurow spends time with farmers in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley who are implementing practices like terracing and agroforestry to restore degraded land and improve their livelihoods.  He highlights the ongoing work of aid organizations like the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in promoting sustainable agriculture and empowering local communities.

In Uganda, he visits farmers who are diversifying their crops, integrating livestock, and using cover crops to improve soil health and increase resilience to drought.

He explores efforts to combat land degradation and improve food security in Ethiopia, where farmers are adopting techniques like intercropping and water harvesting to enhance productivity in the face of challenging environmental conditions.  He travels to India’s Indo-Gangetic Plain, where he meets Indian farmers who are revitalizing their soil and increasing yields through practices like no-till farming and crop rotation. He also examines the challenges faced by Indian farmers, including water scarcity and climate change.

When visiting Guatemala’s Highlands, Thurow describes the efforts of smallholder farmers to preserve traditional maize varieties and promote sustainable farming practices in the face of pressures from industrial agriculture.

Against the Grain offers a valuable contribution to the conversation about the future of food and farming. It provides a hopeful vision of a more sustainable and equitable food system, while also acknowledging the challenges that lie ahead. Thurow’s engaging writing style and his passion for the subject matter make “Against the Grain” an informative and thought-provoking read for anyone interested in the intersection of food, agriculture, and the environment.

Note:  Some NGOs specialize in promoting this type of agriculture, including Trees for the Future. Thurow serves on the advisory committee for Action Against Hunger, US.

A related book review about Regenerative Agriculture is available at another non-profit’s (Well Being International’s) site:  https://wellbeingintl.org/resources/newsletter-archive/wellbeingnews/wellbeing-news-vol-6-11/  .

-Reviewed by WHES Board members Steven Hansch and Jim Phillips