The Food Security Wheat Reserve (FSWR) was a

strategic grain reserve A strategic grain reserve is a government stockpile of grain for the purpose of meeting future domestic or international needs. In the United States, such programs have included the Farmer-Owned Grain Reserve (1977–1996), Food Security Wheat Reser ...

of up to 4 million metric tons of

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

held by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for use in meeting emergency food needs in developing countries, established by Title III of the Agricultural Act of 1980 (P.L. 96–494). This reserve generally was to be used to meet

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...

or other urgent or extraordinary relief requirements during periods of tight supplies and high prices when commodities are not available under the provisions of P.L. 480. The FSWR was replaced by the Food Security Commodity Reserve under the

1996 farm bill The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-127), known informally as the Freedom to Farm Act, the FAIR Act, or the 1996 U.S. Farm Bill, was the omnibus 1996 farm bill that, among other provisions, revises and simplifies ...

(P.L. 104–127, Sec. 225), which has since been renamed the

Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust The Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust (BEHT) is a strategic grain reserve held by the United States for the benefit of other countries. It can contain commodities and cash held in trust to supplement food aid made available under programs created by P ...

. The

2002 farm bill The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, also known as the 2002 Farm Bill, includes ten titles, addressing a great variety of issues related to agriculture, ecology, energy, trade, and nutrition. This act has been superseded by the 2 ...

(P.L. 107–171, Sec. 3202) extended the Trust through 2007.

References

{{CRS, article = Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition, url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110810044532/http://ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/05jun/97-905.pdf, author= Jasper Womach United States Department of Agriculture Food security in the United States Strategic reserves of the United States Wheat organizations 1980 establishments in the United States 1996 disestablishments in the United States