Ag secretary: 'We have never been less secure' about wheat

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Low global wheat stocks, coupled with the emergence of a virulent crop disease, are threatening the world's food supply, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Edward Schafer told food aid groups Wednesday.

"We have never been less secure about the near-term future of wheat," he said. "Here in the United States it is our most basic crop with a farm gate value of $16 billion. Global wheat stocks are at an unprecedented historic 30-year low, and U.S. wheat stocks are at unprecedented 60-year low."

Schafer told the International Food Aid Conference meeting here that against this background the highly virulent African stem rust is quickly spreading to places such as Uganda, Ethiopia, Yemen, India, Pakistan and now Iran.

Wheat stocks have dwindled in the wake of crop failures in some of the world's major growing regions, even as global population growth has created increasing demands for the commodity. Drought, floods and late freezes have all had an impact.

African stem rust, which is carried by wind spores, would be devastating to global food supplies if it affects the U.S. wheat crops.

"With over 75 percent of U.S. wheat acres planted to varieties that are highly susceptible to this disease, the threat here at home is real and it is urgent," he said.

The United States has shipped wheat breeding lines to east Africa, where work is being done to find a rust-resistant strain and to find new protective measures.

"This is an international science partnership at its best in the face of crisis that threatens most of the world's food," Schafer told about 700 conference attendees from 25 countries meeting in the heart of this nation's breadbasket.

Food aid groups from around the world have been meeting here to discuss finding solutions to soaring commodity and fuel prices that have slashed the amount of food they can buy to feed the world's most impoverished regions.