For the World’s Food Supply, Federal Funding Cuts Have Long-Term Impacts

Crops and livestock that are essential for feeding the world’s population are constantly threatened by depleted soil, evolving pathogens and erratic weather spurred by a changing climate.

So in laboratories and farms around the world, scientists labor to protect them, breeding more resilient varieties and developing farming practices to stabilize harvests against the swings and shocks of the environment.

But lately, the United States, not nature, has created the biggest uncertainty for global agriculture.

Vern Long, who directed U.S.A.I.D.’s agricultural research team from 2017 to 2019, said the need to address threats to the global breadbasket was bigger than partisan politics. “These issues transcend national identity,” she said. “These issues are about humanity.”

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