Elissa Miolene

Operation End Starvation aims to rapidly scale up ready-to-use therapeutic foods in crisis zones — and it's expected to be up and running this year.

Michelle Bekkering, USDA’s deputy undersecretary for trade and foreign agriculture affairs, signaled that the agency will be providing more information about such awards soon.

“You've unleashed them and left them unemployed," said Amanda Nataro, one of the founders of Aid on the Hill. "So, what did you think was going to happen?”

"It's encouraging because it's starting to address the problem,” said Tod Preston, the executive director of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network. “Much more needs to be done, but they could be doing nothing."

According to a new analysis, the agency's foreign agricultural service — which now controls the country's flagship food assistance program — lost 24% of its staff last year.

The awards mark the latest in a series of large, targeted humanitarian grants to specific organizations, with more expected to follow soon.

The transfer wasn't written into Farm Bill legislation due to a matter of “jurisdiction,” but is likely to move ahead.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is renewing her hold on the agency's plan to spend up to $19 billion winding down foreign assistance programs.

Inside the U.K.’s £729.5 million budget for development contracts. Plus, the future of donor-advised funds, and the health funding challenges of South Sudan.

New grants to Catholic Relief Services and Operation End Starvation reflect a growing pattern of direct, multimillion-dollar humanitarian awards from the U.S. government.