Key Takeaways
- Stockpile advice: The United States, Britain, Germany, Japan and dozens of other governments tell households to keep emergency food and water. The Pentagon wants major bases able to run 90 days alone.
- The US plan to fight global hunger: Congress gave Feed the Future $720 million for fiscal 2026, but the strategy that guides the spending, due in July, has not appeared. The money expires on September 30, 2027.
- Hunger worldwide: Hunger fell to 7.8% of the world's population in 2025, but 2.1 billion people still face moderate or severe food insecurity.
- What still moves: Payment rails and private credit, from a World Food Programme blockchain that has avoided $324 million in duplicate aid to debt at a decade-high 18.2% of agrifood funding.
The United States tells households to keep food, water and supplies for several days, yet it has no published plan to fight global hunger with the $720 million Congress set aside for Feed the Future in fiscal 2026, Devex reported. Britain, Germany and Japan give similar stockpile advice.
Governments From Washington to Tokyo Tell Households to Stock Up
Ready.gov, the Department of Homeland Security's preparedness site, asks for several days of food, water and supplies and names no hazard. Newsweek's map lists 33 countries with similar advice, by WYDE's count. Britain, France, Canada, Japan, Mexico and the Netherlands advise 72 hours, Sweden and Norway about a week, and Germany up to 10 days. Related WYDE coverage: 33 Countries Advise Residents to Stockpile Food and Water as Bongino Cites 30 Days.
Dan Bongino, the former FBI deputy director, told his podcast audience to take the warnings seriously and cited advice about 30 days of preparedness, Mediaite reported.
The military's version is the most specific. Under the FORTRESS initiative Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth launched on September 30, every major base in the continental United States should sustain essential operations on its own for at least 90 days, using portable nuclear reactors, battery storage and microgrids, The War Zone reported. "We don't want to rely on standard civilian municipal infrastructure to run our national defense," Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell told Fox News.
The pressure starts upstream. J.P. Morgan's researchers project global food inflation rising from 2.8% in the first half of 2026 to about 5% a year later, according to a summary of their report. There is no coordinated fertilizer reserve like the one for oil, and about a third of seaborne fertilizer trade passed through the Strait of Hormuz before the war. Fertilizer missed this season shows up in next season's prices.
Global Hunger Fell to 7.8% as Healthy Diets Grew Costlier
Hunger fell to 7.8% of the world's population in 2025 from 8.1% in 2024, about 645 million people, according to the UN's State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report. But 2.1 billion people, 25.8% of the world, faced moderate or severe food insecurity. Africa now has more hungry people than Asia, about 309 million against 292 million, for the first time on record, Action Against Hunger noted.
Cost now binds more than supply. A healthy diet cost 4.28 purchasing-power-parity dollars a day in 2025, up from 3.44 in 2021, and 2.69 billion people, 32.7% of the world, cannot afford one. In Africa the share is 66.6%. In the United States, 47.9 million people lived in food-insecure households in 2024, according to the USDA.
Feed the Future Has $720 Million and No Spending Plan
Congress allocated $720 million to Feed the Future for fiscal 2026, Devex reported. The five-year Global Food Security Strategy that guides the spending was expected in July and had not appeared by late October, and the money expires on September 30, 2027. A State Department spokesperson said the department would "aim to deliver the Global Food Security Strategy (GFSS) as soon as we are able."
The delivery machinery went first. USAID, which led Feed the Future from its start, collapsed last year. In 2025 the government spent at least $70 million on existing programs, clawed back $5 million and cancelled all but one of 17 Innovation Labs, against a $1 billion budget in the program's final year. In mid-October the State Department used fiscal 2025 money to announce seven new awards for the labs. The administration had also proposed $22.30 billion in rescissions and cancellations of prior State Department and foreign aid funds, mostly from accounts it did not name, the Congressional Research Service found.
"There's money in the appropriations bill, there are directives there, and the numbers in the IPC reports are alarming," said Emily Byers, Save the Children's managing director of global development policy. The IPC is the UN-backed system that grades how severe a hunger crisis has become.
Japan plans to advise households to store at least three days of food, water and sanitation supplies, IBTimes UK reported. That is the preparedness advice seen from the other end: governments asking people to cover the gap themselves because the system that used to cover it has thinned.
Venture Money Went to the Checkout. Aid Money Went Onchain.
Agrifoodtech funding was flat at $16.2 billion in 2025, and upstream companies that farm and produce drew $9 billion, up 7%, AgFunder found, while delivery and eGrocery kept shrinking. On October 29 DoorDash agreed to buy Instacart for $65 a share, an equity value of about $17 billion. By WYDE's arithmetic, that one deal is about 5% larger than a year of the sector's funding.
The least glamorous crypto use is the one that works. The World Food Programme's Building Blocks, which it calls the world's largest blockchain-based humanitarian platform, has helped aid groups avoid $324 million in unintended duplicate assistance since 2022, more than $270 million of it in Ukraine.
In September the Circle Foundation backed the UN Development Programme and the World Food Programme to test regulated stablecoin payments for aid, building on UNDP pilots in Syria, Haiti, Guatemala and The Gambia. Related WYDE coverage: Circle Foundation Funds UN Aid Agencies to Test Stablecoin Payments in Crisis Zones.
Credit is moving the same way. Debt reached 18.2% of agrifood funding in 2025, its highest share in a decade, according to AgFunder. Birch Hill, founded by Goldman Sachs and BlackRock alumni, raised a $4 million seed round led by Multicoin Capital to bring U.S. farm and apartment loans onchain, Decrypt reported. "Loan originators need new sources of capital, and onchain lenders need credit they can trust," said Bhavin Vaid, its chief executive.
What to Watch Into 2027
Public money for hunger is stalled and expiring. Private capital has gathered at the point of sale, where margins are easy to read. The cheapest measurable wins come from the plumbing. For anyone placing capital next year, that is the map: upstream is cheap and starved, debt is where the volume is, and the layer between a dollar and a meal is the part technology has proved good at fixing.
People Also Ask
Does the US have a plan to fight global hunger?
Not a published one. Congress allocated $720 million to Feed the Future for fiscal 2026, but the State Department has not released the five-year Global Food Security Strategy that guides the spending, Devex reported.
Which countries tell residents to stockpile food?
Newsweek's map lists 33 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Mexico and the Netherlands. Of those that state a period, most advise 72 hours, Sweden and Norway about a week, and Germany up to 10 days.
How many people face hunger worldwide?
About 645 million people, or 7.8% of the world's population, faced hunger in 2025, according to the UN's State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report. About 2.1 billion faced moderate or severe food insecurity.
Sources: Devex, Newsweek, The War Zone, FAO, AgFunderNews, World Food Programme.