I have to admit there’s something both satisfying and perverse in reading about how the Trump-Musk chopping block of USAID will hurt farmers in Kansas because I’m pretty sure most voted for spurious promises. Ah, the results of unintended consequences.
As we, the wealthiest nation in the world has cut off funding research on how certain insects destroy sorghum wheat abroad, we will reap the whirlwind here at home. It’s not just in Kansas; in Georgia, USAID funds looked at peanut crops, in Pennsylvania at potato blight, at Purdue a program to protect seafood, 94% of which is imported.
How we are supposed to make America great is a good question when any simpleton should realize that what goes around, comes around. Perhaps the docile Congress is full of something worse than simpletons—I know! Weebles. They’re supposed to wobble but not fall down. But the Congress has fallen down so both the farmers and American consumers will suffer.
Prayer for the Day
Thinking we only considered ourselves, O God,
Our farmers will not have the benefits of research;
Looking only at immediate benefits from our crops, O Lord,
We are destroying what we have learned.
Move us beyond our narrow vision of our own desires,
And awaken us to how we are all interdependent.
In the name of the One who shows us the way,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Insects travel around the world—diseases travel around the world. The work that we are doing is trying to get out ahead of these diseases and insects before they get to the United States.
Timothy J. Dalton, agricultural economist
One of the big things that we see in Africa and Asia is, as the demand for food rises, the demand for grain and processed food rises even faster—and that creates huge opportunities for American companies. Those are the growth markets for us. The work we do is very much in the national interest. It directly helps America.
David Tschirley, agricultural economist, Michigan
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house;
And thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts;
See if I will not open the windows of heaven for you
And pour for you overflowing blessing.
Malachi 3:10