Good news on easing global hunger
Angus’ colleague Amy at Australia’s Fix the News says one of their goals is to do more original reporting.
This is one of their first efforts — how 6 people in rural Australia are working to ship 500 tons of wheat to Sudan:
Hunger in Sudan was exacerbated by the sudden disappearance of USAID funding, says Fix the News. But Australia’s foreign aid had been falling for a decade and now is just 0.18 percent of gross national income, ranking 28th out of 32 wealthy nations.
At the same time, Australia’s national winter crop production for 2025-26 is projected to be the third largest on record.
So farmers in Leeton, in New South Wales, Australia, one of Australia’s richest agricultural areas, decided to do something to help others.
Sudan is the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, says Fix the News. More than 21 million people — nearly half of the population — are facing acute food insecurity.
One metric ton of wheat can feed about 90 people for a month. A 500-ton shipment would provide food for approximately 45,000 people.
The wheat will be loaded in about 20 shipping containers in Port Melbourne and travel to a transshipment hub in Asia before being transferred to a vessel bound for the Middle East. From there, it will be loaded on a smaller feeder vessel for the final leg of its journey.
The wheat will be shipped when enough funds are raised to cover the transportation costs.
The project “is six people, seven months in, trying to build something that has no template and no guarantee of working. The logistics could stall. The access routes could close. The money might not come together in time. But the grain is committed, the partnerships are in place, and the team is already thinking about how to build a continuous cycle of shipments,” says Fix the News.
“No one involved believes 500 tons of wheat will end famine. But it may challenge something just as entrenched: the assumption that distance equals helplessness, and that someone else will step up.”
Note to readers
I need to take Friday and Monday off for some home maintenance. I’ll see you on Tuesday, March 10.
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