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Woodpeckers; Nature’s Little Drummers

By
Steve Gilliland
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Whether it’s fishing along a deserted stretch of riverbank, or attempting to sit motionless and silently under a tree or bush awaiting a spring gobbler, I’ve always noticed that there seems to be an apparent abundance of woodpeckers in the spring. I’m not complaining, mind you as their staccato hammering is a nice percussion addition to nature’s spring symphony. It’s just that I seem to hear so many more of them in spring than any other time of the year. Well, I believe I’ve found the answer to my question, and here’s a little “woodpecker 101” to boot.

Woodpeckers are found everywhere on the planet except Australia, New Zealand and Madagascar. The largest is the great slaty in Southeast Asia that can grow to 20 inches long, and the smallest are only 3 to 4 inches long and belong to a group from South America called the piculets. Kansas is home to about a dozen species. Woodpeckers mate for life, and after eggs are laid, both parents help with incubation. They are omnivores, meaning they eat most anything, and their diet includes insects and insect larvae, tree sap, seeds and nuts. Most woodpeckers have long tongues to reach deep into holes to extract insects and larvae. That tongue can be as long as four inches on certain species and when not in use it’s actually stored wrapped around the back of its head in a special sort of pouch between the skin and the skull. Woodpeckers are easy to spot in flight as they have a very different and distinct flight pattern. They flap their wings three times and then glide, then three more flaps, then glide, etc. until they reach their destination; this flight pattern never changes.

I’m sure we’ve all seen woodpeckers hanging vertically from the side of a tree as they dig for insects, and God has specifically designed them for all aspects of that job. The toes of their feet point both forward and backwards to hold them in place, and they have long stiffened tail feathers that prop them up like leaning against the back of a chair. Their beaks are long, slender and uniquely self-sharpening, and the machine-gun-like sound we hear them making as they drill for insects and grubs is known as “drumming.” Woodpeckers’ brains are protected by special air pockets in their skulls that cushions each blow as they

drum, which can be 20 times per second and amount to more than 10, 000 times each day.

I’ve always thought that woodpeckers hammered away on trees and poles solely to search for insects and larvae, but I’ve learned that’s only part of the story. Both male and female woodpeckers drum, and besides digging for food, they drum to excavate den holes in dead trees, which they do anew each year, and since woodpeckers do not have vocal songs, they drum to communicate, and to establish territories and attract mates if they don’t have one. So it all fits that I would hear them more often now in early spring as they prepare new nests, establish their territories and communicate to prospective mates.

Ya’ know, the Kansas outdoors is one huge classroom, and it’s great when I also learn something from what I write. And by the way, this year the most famous woodpecker of all time, Woody, turns 85 years old; that’s a lot of drummin’! Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!

Steve can be contacted by email at [email protected].

KU News: KU RocketStars take top honors at First Nations Launch International Rocket Competition

By
Guest Columnist
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From the Office of Public Affairs | https://www.news.ku.edu

Headlines

KU RocketStars take top honors at First Nations Launch International Rocket Competition

LAWRENCE — The KU RocketStars, a team of Indigenous STEM scholars from the University of Kansas and members of the KU American Indian Science and Engineering Society chapter, won two awards at the 16th Annual First Nations Launch High-Powered Rocketry Competition, hosted by NASA’s Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium. One award recognized the group’s outreach to KU groups, Lawrence and Free State high schools, and to the Girl Scouts of Kansas City.

KU graduate student completes prestigious fellowship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas graduate student is back in Lawrence after spending three months conducting nuclear science research at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee as part of a highly competitive research fellowship sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Amrit Gautam, a KU graduate student in the physics doctoral program from Pokhara, Nepal, was among just 62 doctoral students nationwide selected for the DOE’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research Fellowship.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Palvih Bhana, School of Engineering, 785-864-3620, [email protected]
KU RocketStars take top honors at First Nations Launch International Rocket Competition

LAWRENCE — The KU RocketStars, a team of Indigenous science, technology, engineering and math scholars from the University of Kansas and members of the KU American Indian Science and Engineering Society chapter, won two awards at the 16th Annual First Nations Launch High-Powered Rocketry Competition, hosted by NASA’s Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium.

The competition, held April 25–27 at the Richard Bong State Recreation Area in Kansasville, Wisconsin, brought together an international field of top institutions including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Toronto, Northern Arizona University, University of British Columbia, University of Washington, Queens University of Canada, and tribal colleges such as Menominee Nation, Leech Lake and Turtle Mountain.

KU’s team stood out among strong international competition, securing the Outreach Award and winning the Patch Design Contest for its rocket, The Star Snagger.

The KU RocketStars team members include:

Chamisa Edmo (Navajo, Blackfeet, Shoshone-Bannock), graduate student in computer science, Lawrence.
Kate Rosa (Sicangu Lakota), undergraduate in molecular biology, Emporia.
Trey Jimboy (Tlingit), undergraduate student in electrical engineering, Lawrence.
Annalise Guthrie (Cherokee), doctoral student in ecology & evolutionary biology, Kansas City, Missouri.
Mollie Coffey (Comanche), undergraduate student in microbiology with a minor in Spanish, Lawrence.
Karen Middleton (Kickapoo), undergraduate student in computer science, Lawrence.

The Outreach Award recognized KU RocketStars’ exceptional commitment to community engagement.

Throughout the year, the team led innovative STEM education activities, including:

Film canister rocket demonstrations at the KU Carnival of Chemistry and the KU Powwow.
A rocket launch event for the Girl Scouts of Kansas City, helping scouts earn their STEM patches.
A “Learn Rocketry” series with Lawrence and Free State high schools, where Indigenous Intertribal Club students built and launched Estes rockets and toured KU Engineering, and were introduced to KU’s Indigenous STEM research opportunities.

“This is about more than rockets,” said Edmo, team lead. “It’s about showing Indigenous youth that they belong in science, engineering and in space exploration.”

Now, in their second year, the KU RocketStars have steadily expanded their knowledge and technical certification. Five members — Edmo and Rosa (Level 2 certification), Guthrie, Jimboy and Coffey (Level 1 certification) — have achieved High Powered Rocketry Certification through the national Tripoli Rocketry Association, with earlier successful flights at the Argonia Cup competition.

In its 16th and final year, the First Nations Launch competition has offered a unique opportunity for students from tribal colleges, Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions (NASNTI) and AISES collegiate chapters to gain hands-on aerospace experience. The program has aimed to ignite a passion for STEM fields among Indigenous students by combining technical challenges with cultural pride and community building.

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The official university account for X (formerly Twitter) is @UnivOfKansas.

Follow @KUnews for KU News Service stories, discoveries and experts.

 

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Contact: Ranjit Arab, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, [email protected]
KU graduate student completes prestigious fellowship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas graduate student is back in Lawrence after spending three months conducting nuclear science research at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee as part of a highly competitive research fellowship sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Amrit Gautam, a KU graduate student in the physics doctoral program from Pokhara, Nepal, was among just 62 doctoral students nationwide selected for the DOE’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research Fellowship. He is one of only two students from Kansas and the only student chosen from KU this year.

The fellowship, which recognizes top doctoral students across fields like physics, chemistry, engineering and computational sciences, provides supplemental awards to outstanding U.S. graduate students so they can pursue part of their graduate thesis research at participating DOE labs and facilities in areas that address scientific challenges central to the department’s mission. This unique research experience helps advance the graduate students’ doctoral thesis and gives them access to the expertise, resources and capabilities available at DOE labs and facilities.

In Gautam’s case, he spent the fellowship conducting his thesis research at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, developing and testing readout systems for pixel technologies used in nuclear physics experiments. This cutting-edge research will significantly contribute to advancements at the future Electron-Ion Collider, which is currently being built at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, and is expected to be operational within the next decade.

“It was a great opportunity to further develop my doctoral training in some advanced nuclear physics areas that complement the skills that I have developed at KU,” Gautam said.

This fellowship comes on the heels of Gautam receiving another prestigious fellowship. Last year, he was awarded a Summer Students Exchange Program fellowship, which is jointly sponsored by the DOE and Italy’s Institute for Nuclear Physics. That fellowship enabled him to conduct research at the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Bologna, Italy.

One person who is well-aware of Gautam’s research excellence is Daniel Tapia Takaki, professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at KU. Not only is Takaki Gautam’s research adviser, he is also the chair of the ALICE-USA Council at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, which Gautam is a member of.

Takaki said the new technologies Gautam is developing for the Electron-Ion Collider will generate technological breakthroughs with far-reaching impacts on human health and national challenges.

“We are proud of Amrit’s commitment to pushing the frontiers of nuclear physics,” Takaki said. “His achievements underscore the significant research being conducted at KU in nuclear science, highlighting the university’s dedication to academic excellence and innovation.”

The DOE’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research Fellowship program is sponsored and managed by the DOE Office of Science’s Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS), in collaboration with the six Office of Science research programs and the DOE national laboratories/facilities.

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KU News Service

1450 Jayhawk Blvd.

Lawrence KS 66045

[email protected]

https://www.news.ku.edu

 

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

 

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

KU News: KU students honored with Tradition of Excellence Award

By
Guest Columnist
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0

From the Office of Public Affairs | https://www.news.ku.edu

KU students honored with Tradition of Excellence Award

LAWRENCE — Ten University of Kansas students received the 2025 Tradition of Excellence Award, presented annually by the KU Alumni Association and the Student Alumni Network. The award recognizes students who have significantly enhanced the KU community through efforts such as serving as teaching assistants, leading student organizations or volunteering. Recipients include students from Hutchinson, Lansing, Manhattan and Overland Park as well as from Independence, Missouri.

KU undergraduate team secures third place in national intelligence competition

LAWRENCE — A team of three University of Kansas undergraduate students has earned a third-place finish in the national collegiate Moonshot Labs Analyst Jam with IC Centers for Academic Excellence Competition. The KU team of Amy Wright, of Independence, Missouri; Alpha Ngo, Derby, and Katherine Koplik, Overland Park, competed against 19 teams from other institutions across the nation that, like KU, are affiliated with Intelligent Community Centers for Academic Excellence, which prepares students for careers in intelligence and national security.

Winners crowned among group of moving collections in Snyder Book Contest

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Libraries honored eight student finalists and awarded cash prizes at the 67th annual Snyder Book Collecting Contest during a reception April 24 at Watson Library. The contest, established in 1957 by libraries donor Elizabeth Snyder, is designed to recognize students’ passion for creating personal book collections. Students receiving awards or honorable mentions include Jayhawks from Hutchinson, Lawrence, Mulberry and Spring Hill.

Full stories below.

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Editors: Photo available.

Contact: Ryan Edmonds, KU Alumni Association, [email protected]
KU students honored with Tradition of Excellence Award

LAWRENCE — Ten University of Kansas students received the 2025 Tradition of Excellence Award for their leadership on the Lawrence campus. Winners were honored at a ceremony and reception April 24 at the Jayhawk Welcome Center.

The Tradition of Excellence Award, presented annually by the KU Alumni Association and the Student Alumni Network, recognizes students who have significantly enhanced the KU community through efforts such as serving as teaching assistants, leading student organizations or volunteering in the Lawrence community.

Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible for the award, which includes a $1,000 scholarship and $200 for each recipient to donate to a KU Endowment fund of their choice.

The 2025 Tradition of Excellence Award winners:

Edona “Donna” Kraja, a senior in accounting and international business from Montenegro.
Hailey Meggers, a senior in biochemistry from Hutchinson.
Jessica Mumm, a senior in strategic communications from Omaha, Nebraska.
Yash Prajapati, a senior in mathematics and interdisciplinary computing from India.
Fatima Qureshi, a senior in molecular, cellular & developmental biology from Overland Park.
Ariana Siddique, a junior in molecular, cellular & developmental biology from Overland Park.
Madeline Souser, a senior in political science and environmental studies from Lansing.
Austin Sullivan, a doctoral candidate in medical nutrition science from Independence, Missouri.
Astha Thapa, a senior in computer science from Nepal.
Emily Ward, a senior in anthropology and political science from Manhattan.

About the Tradition of Excellence Award

The award is organized by KU Student Alumni Ambassadors, a student organization that provides students with leadership experience in support of the KU Alumni Association and KU Endowment. Student Alumni Ambassadors champion alumni networking, philanthropic engagement and numerous KU traditions. The Tradition of Excellence Award is funded through private support raised through KU Endowment’s Class Legacy Walk, an initiative that honors and celebrates the legacy of past generations of Jayhawks with a growing campus walkway near the Ambler Student Recreation Center.

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KU provides fire, rescue and law enforcement training across Kansas.

 

https://ku.edu/distinction

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Editors: Photo available.

 

Contact: Mike Denning, Office of National Defense Initiatives, 785-864-1684, [email protected]
KU undergraduate team secures third place in national intelligence competition

LAWRENCE — A team of three University of Kansas undergraduate students has earned a third-place finish in the national collegiate Moonshot Labs Analyst Jam with IC Centers for Academic Excellence (MAJIC) Competition, surpassing numerous teams, including many composed of graduate students.

The KU team of Amy Wright, of Independence, Missouri; Alpha Ngo, Derby, and Katherine Koplik, Overland Park, competed against 19 teams from other institutions across the nation that, like KU, are affiliated with Intelligent Community Centers for Academic Excellence, which prepares students for careers in intelligence and national security.

The MAJIC Challenge is sponsored by the National Geospace Agency’s Moonshot Labs, the National Intelligence University and the Office of the Director for National Intelligence. This competition provides students the opportunity to collaborate with subject matter experts while analyzing real-world national security challenges and presenting innovative solutions.

The team’s participation was part of an undergraduate student research class, POLS 489 Topics in International Relations: China-US Relations, instructed by Kurt Preston, director of KU’s National Defense Initiatives.

“What makes this achievement particularly noteworthy is that the KU team consisted exclusively of undergraduate students, while the first- and second-place teams were primarily composed of graduate students,” Preston said. “This remarkable accomplishment highlights the exceptional quality of KU’s undergraduate research and the outstanding capabilities of its students.”

Wright, the team leader, reflected on the experience following the competition.

“It was an excellent learning experience and a good opportunity to put oneself in the mindset of the role,” she said. “It’s hard to know how to present on intelligence without actually presenting on intelligence.

“From a team perspective, I will say that it was and will be an astronomical advantage to have experience working in a team from such different backgrounds on a central topic. As analysts, navigating the conversation in context of others’ backgrounds seems vital to success.”

As a result of their performance, the KU team now has an opportunity for its work to be published in NGA’s Tearline Project and NIU’s academic journal. The students may also have the opportunity to present their findings to senior Intelligence Community leaders at the 2025 National Security Analysis & Intelligence Summer Seminar.

Through their participation in the MAJIC Challenge, KU students strengthened their analytical skills, gained valuable exposure to intelligence methodologies and established professional connections with both peers and intelligence community professionals, according to Preston. This experience provides them with practical insights that will prove invaluable in their future academic and professional endeavors.

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Each of Kansas’ 105 counties receives KU Medical Center outreach.

 

https://ku.edu/distinction

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Editors: Photos, video available.

Contact: Kevin McCarty, KU Libraries, 785-864-6428, [email protected]
Winners crowned among group of moving collections in Snyder Book Contest

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Libraries honored eight student finalists and awarded cash prizes at the 67th annual Snyder Book Collecting Contest during a reception April 24 at Watson Library. The contest, established in 1957 by libraries donor Elizabeth Snyder, is designed to recognize students’ passion for creating personal book collections.

Charles Johnson, a senior from Lawrence, won first place in the undergraduate division for “Coming to Terms with Collective Violence: A Graphic Reconciliation,” a collection of graphic novels.

“The collection really began how I think a lot of collections begin, which was more or less by accident,” Johnson said during remarks at the award ceremony. He described an experience during the summer before he entered third grade, when he mistakenly checked out a book that was “wildly age-inappropriate” for him at that time, “The Complete Maus,” by Art Spiegelman.

The book’s metaphors, based on the historical context of the Holocaust, were largely lost on Johnson at that young age, but the experience helped spark an interest in the persecution of vulnerable populations across many regions and cultures, intersecting with Johnson’s multiple majors in history, political science, religious studies and global & international studies at KU. Johnson’s winning collection illustrated an appreciation for the graphic novel medium, with selections highlighted for their ability to engage a wide audience in complicated, sometimes violent situations and conflicts.

“The medium invites outsiders to view and to understand and to grapple with these histories otherwise easily relegated to dense volumes of academic texts,” Johnson said.

Nicholas Hoekstra, a doctoral student in special education from Comstock Park, Michigan, won first place in the graduate division with his entry, “From Black and White to Every Shade of Gray: The Changing Dynamics of Good and Evil in Fantasy.”

Hoekstra said the submitted collection represented a fraction of his total collection that he estimated at 500-600 books.

“I was very surprised to win first place because I still am accustomed to people looking at fantasy as very much the nerdy kind of books that unpopular kids read,” Hoekstra said. “But personally, I think fantasy is a really, really interesting lens through which to examine our own world and reality, and fantasy kind of gives us a little bit more of a flexible playing field to explore ideas that we kind of encounter every day.”

Hoekstra said preparing and displaying his collection for the contest required a little extra creativity, and the end result illustrated the ways his interactions with books have changed over time, beginning with his mother reading to him when he was young.

“My collection is very broad. It consists of a lot of books in audio formats, books in braille, books on Kindle, even books on tape, because as a person with a visual impairment I read through a different medium than your traditional paperback,” he said.

Laura Moriarty, best-selling novelist and professor of creative writing at KU, delivered the evening’s keynote address, exploring the books she has used to inform and inspire her writing, as well as an especially meaningful collection of published works written by authors she’s advised and mentored through KU’s Master of Fine Arts program.

Moriarty also served as a judge of the contest, and she said reading the “passionate and deeply personal” essays of the finalists was a delightful part of the unique Snyder contest experience.

“Each (finalist) collected books not to impress, not to make money, not with a goal in sight, not even to simply hunt and own,” she said, “but to more fully engage with a subject that moves them, intellectually, emotionally and even physically.”

In the undergraduate division, second place went to Zoe Savage from Austin, Texas, for “A Comprehensive Guide to Roller Derby History and Culture.” Jasmine Hunt, Spring Hill, received honorable mention for her collection, “Scientific Curiosity: The Human Experience as it Relates to Science and the Universe.” Abraham Frederick of Mulberry was honored as a finalist for “From Jacobins to Bonapartists: The Wars of the Coalition and the Age of Revolution.”

Joshua Navarro, Hutchinson, won second place in the graduate division for “First Love, Lasting Legacies: Stories of the Lives of Presidents and First Ladies.” Honorable mention was awarded to Christine Singleton of Richmond, Virginia, for “’Why … Wherever God Motions’: A Black Feminist Phone Tree.” Abby Breyer of St. Louis was recognized as a finalist for “’Her tears were tears of shame and loss and love. Love most of all’: A Collection of Books that Made Me Cry.”

“I think this year was particularly special because so much is uncertain right now. It’s always great to be able to look back and look forward with optimism and joy,” said Beth Whittaker, executive associate dean of KU Libraries and a longtime judge of the Snyder contest. “We really saw that this year with our finalists.”

Each winner received a cash prize as well as a gift card from contest co-sponsor Jayhawk Ink, who will also display the top collections in a case outside the bookstore in the Kansas Union through May 9. Cash awards are made possible by an endowment fund created by Snyder. First place winners in each division are eligible to compete in the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest, which awards a top prize of $2,500.

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KU News Service

1450 Jayhawk Blvd.

Lawrence KS 66045

[email protected]

https://www.news.ku.edu

 

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

 

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

KU News: David Dietz named University of Kansas dean of pharmacy

By
Guest Columnist
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From the Office of Public Affairs | https://www.news.ku.edu

Headlines

Contact: Savannah Rattanavong, Office of the Provost, 785-864-6402, [email protected]
David Dietz named University of Kansas dean of pharmacy

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has selected David Dietz as the next dean of the School of Pharmacy. Dietz is currently a professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology as well as the associate dean of research strategy at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo.

He will begin his new role Aug. 1.

“With a proven record of excellence in scholarship and research, as well as innovation in academic programs and administrative practice, David will serve as a visionary leader to advance the School of Pharmacy in future years,” said Barbara A. Bichelmeyer, university chief academic officer and provost and executive vice chancellor of KU Lawrence and Edwards. “I’m sure he will be a valued addition to KU and strengthen our mission of educating leaders, building healthy communities and making discoveries that change the world.”

As dean of the pharmacy school, Dietz will lead the school’s faculty and staff with a clear vision and strategies to strengthen research and academic programs. He will be responsible for personnel, budgets, alumni engagement, fundraising, and government and industry relations. He will also be a strong proponent for pharmacological research, professional pharmaceutical education and the school as a whole. He will bridge pharmacy research across the school, campus, KU Medical Center and the University of Kansas Health System.

“This represents a phenomenal opportunity to move the school forward, building on its already amazing track of progress and positioning the School of Pharmacy as a major hub of activity in terms of education and research at the University of Kansas,” Dietz said. “I want to support faculty, staff and students in continuing excellence and empowering them to be even stronger members of KU. This will enable all of us to facilitate the opportunities we need to reach our goals, while connecting communities and partners throughout the state, nation and world.”

He will succeed Barbara Timmermann, who has served as KU’s interim pharmacy dean since May 2024. Timmermann is a University Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and was the former chair of the department for seven years.

“Many thanks to Barbara for her leadership and dedication to supporting our pharmacy school community during this transitional period,” Bichelmeyer said. “I also thank the search committee for their great work and commitment throughout the search process.”

In his position as chair of UB’s pharmacology and toxicology department, Dietz oversees two undergraduate majors, two master’s programs and two doctoral programs. He founded the school’s undergraduate program in neurosciences, and he has also helped develop and implement a medical school curriculum that utilizes an integrated approach to prepare students for developing challenges in the modern health care field.

Dietz’s research has focused on understanding how molecular and behavioral plasticity in the brain mediates the susceptibility of individuals to drug abuse and relapse. He is principal investigator on multiple National Institutes of Health grants to study heroin- and cocaine-induced changes in the brain during addiction.

In addition, Dietz was recognized as a UB Exceptional Scholar, both as a Young Investigator in 2015 and for Sustained Achievement in 2023. Dietz is also a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Society for Neuroscience and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He previously served as the president of his local chapter for the Society for Neuroscience.

Dietz earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Florida State University and his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Rutgers University. He additionally was a postdoctoral fellow in the Friedman Brain Institute at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

“I’m deeply excited to join the KU community, and it’s truly an honor,” Dietz said. “I’m looking forward to serving as a leader within this premier school to help raise the reputation of KU on a global scale.”

The School of Pharmacy’s mission is to provide exceptional educational opportunities for professional, graduate and postgraduate students. Through exemplary curricula and programs, the school encourages the advancement of patient-centered care to enhance health. The school also maintains a leadership role in developing innovative technologies and pharmaceuticals and conducting drug therapy related research inclusive of basic, clinical and administrative sciences for the state, nation and world.

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KU News Service

1450 Jayhawk Blvd.

Lawrence KS 66045

[email protected]

https://www.news.ku.edu

 

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

 

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

Wheat Scoop: Building Tomorrow’s Markets: Wheat’s role in food aid programs in East Africa

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Guest Columnist
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Kansas Wheat

For the audio version, visit kswheat.com.

See a need, fill a need. That was the vision of the Kansas wheat farmer who first proposed donating surplus Kansas grain to people in need around the world. Today, U.S. food aid programs continue to serve this goal, using about one million metric tons (36.74 million bushels) of U.S. wheat annually. Kansas Wheat CEO Justin Gilpin joined a recent learning journey, organized by U.S. Wheat Associates (USW), to get an up-close look at food aid programs at work in East Africa and how this goodwill lays the foundation for future trade relationships.

“Food for Peace and Food for Progress are key programs and policies that were originally started by U.S. farmers and still supported by U.S. farmers,” Gilpin said. “We are in an increasingly important environment right now with dynamic changes in policy, seeing the critical work that food aid provides for those who are in need.”

“We are also introducing our product into a market. Africa creates a unique opportunity where we can provide humanitarian assistance to those who are in need through food aid with wheat, specifically being a high priority food, but then ultimately building goodwill and developing a commercial partner.”

The food aid learning journey took U.S. wheat industry leaders to Kenya and Lesotho to examine the transportation, distribution and impact of the two main U.S. food assistance programs — Food for Peace and Food for Progress.

 

Food for Peace Feeds Hungry People

The Food for Peace program supplies in-kind donations of food products, of which wheat makes up the largest proportion of emergency food assistance. The program started as a proposal by Kansas farmer Peter O’Brien in September 1953. In 1954, U.S. Senator Andy Schoeppel, a Kansas Senator, sponsored the precursor to today’s food aid programs as legislation, which was later signed by another Kansan, President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The team saw the impact of Food for Peace donations firsthand at the Kakuma Refugee Camp, which hosts about 300,000 refugees from a variety of countries across East and Central Africa. The camp is managed by the World Food Programme (WFP), which aims to provide refugees with the standard 2,100 calories each person needs daily. Reaching that goal is not always possible.

Peter Laudeman, USW director of trade policy, explained that due to other global conflicts and distribution issues, the camp was only able to provide 65 percent of the caloric need in the provided ration. At the time of the learning journey, that ration was down to 40 percent with the expectation that it could move as low as 20 percent, making it imperative to get resources — like available U.S. HRW wheat — moving into these programs.

“This is not a well-rounded meal of fresh fruits and vegetables; it’s truly just the basic calories of what you need for the month to live,” Laudeman said. “When you think visually about it, you’re basically getting a two-cup scoop and that’s what you get for the month. What we saw more than anything is that there is a substantial need for more food in that camp. We know we have wheat available in the United States.”

The Food for Peace program is administered by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is set to be absorbed by the U.S. Department of State. The U.S. wheat industry is actively advocating for the Food for Peace program to be administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which already administers the sourcing and procurement of commodities like wheat for the Food for Peace program.

“Moving Food for Peace into USDA is going to be more efficient and more effective,” Laudeman said. “Not just for farmers in the United States to have more predictability, but also for groups like the WFP to have consistency, so we are working really hard to make sure that’s a possibility.”

 

Food for Progress Builds Economies

The second major food aid program in the United States is the Food for Progress program. Under this program, donations of wheat are monetized, which refers to the sale of in-kind donations of U.S. food commodities in recipient countries for local currency. Through monetization, the United States, through USDA and USAID, provides food commodities, like wheat, to a cooperating sponsor, a recipient government or a non-governmental organization. The recipient then can sell that commodity to local processors or traders and the proceeds can be used for developmental projects.

On the learning journey, Gilpin traveled with Laudeman to Maseru, Lesotho, to get a look at the STEPS Food for Progress project run by Venture 37. The project was funded by wheat monetization in Tanzania that is building capacity for the poultry sector within Lesotho.

“The project in Lesotho is actively working across the entire poultry value chain to enhance productivity, target strategic long-term investments and build economic opportunity in partnership with the United States,” Laudeman said. “As an added benefit, many elements of the STEPS project connect to commercial export opportunities for U.S. farmers.”

This project is an example of the vision of the Food for Progress program — how government-facilitated commercial scales can build up economies and establish relationships with future trading partners. The wheat industry actively advocates for this program, including recent support to ensure a spring food aid shipment of 286,000 metric tons (10.5 million bushels) of HRW wheat proceeded as planned.

That shipment came through the port of Mombasa in Kenya, which the team visited earlier in the learning journey, along with the mill that worked to bring in the shipment of wheat and move it through Kenya to the end destination of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While no subsequent shipments are currently scheduled, this shipment represented the work needed to ensure food aid programs provide the right resources in the right places without market distortions.

“We worked to make sure that shipment went out to commercial partners in different markets that were planning on receiving that wheat,” Laudeman said. “We’re hopeful that once we have a better vision of how food aid will be structured in the long-term there will be more opportunities to share how shipments of wheat like this one work well in these programs, whether it is in Kenya or anywhere else.”

 

Food Aid Makes Good Cents

Overall, the USW learning journey underscored the enduring legacy and critical role of U.S. wheat in food aid programs. For Kansas wheat farmers, this work serves as a strong reminder of the power of feeding the world — both those in need today and those who will buy tomorrow.

“This USW learning journey gave us a great opportunity to learn about these important food aid programs that were originally started by farmers and still supported by farmers,” Gilpin said. “We were able to see tremendous growth through East Africa, including the role wheat plays in that market as humanitarian assistance and the market potential for future commercial activity.”

Learn more about the USW learning journey here.

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