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Transcript/ScriptBIDEN-UKRAINE FOOD SUPPLY
HEADLINE: Biden Pledges Help to US Farmers to Offset Ukraine Crop Crisis
TEASER: Calling US farms the ‘breadbasket of democracy,’ president vows to do more to offset food supply issues amid Russian invasion
PUBLISHED AT: 05/11/2022 at 10:24 p.m.
BYLINE: Anita Powell
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
VIDEO EDITOR: Kimberlyn Weeks
SCRIPT EDITORS: Mia Bush, Reifenrath [David Jones OK for balance]
VIDEO SOURCE (S): AP, AFP ZOOM (WITH LICENSE)
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __
TRT:
VID APPROVED BY: Salem Solomon
TYPE:
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO))
[[The Ukraine conflict has disrupted food supplies and prices around the world, President Joe Biden said Wednesday during a visit to an Illinois farm, where he announced actions to boost America’s farming industry. Analysts say this agricultural shock could cause long-term global problems, especially in low-income countries. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington. ]]
((Establish farm in Kankakee AP-:4379313; at 1:37 Biden looks at waves of grain WHICH ARE NOT AMBER AND I AM DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED))
((NARRATOR))
Kankakee, Illinois, is a world away from Kyiv, but the effects of Ukraine’s conflict are being felt here, too, in these growing waves of grain.
((Mined fields and wheat fields in Ukraine: V000_328X6DV; also AFP-V000_329J6EE))
((NARRATOR))
Russia’s 11-week invasion of Ukraine has imperiled global supplies of wheat, corn, barley, oilseed, cooking oil and fertilizer. World food prices have risen nearly 13 percent since the invasion, the White House says.
((Establish Biden in a farm on Wednesday AP-4379313))
((NARRATOR))
President Joe Biden said Wednesday, during a farm visit, that he’s doing all he can to help American farmers fill that gap, which he blames on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
((SOT, English, MRT https://app.frame.io/projects/107d8a33-963a-48f0-9001-585725df7d34/c93d1189-e55f-4f29-90eb-1c38406784ae))
((President Joe Biden))
“You’re literally the backbone of our country; it's not hyperbole. But you also feed the world. And we're seeing, with Putin's war in Ukraine, you're like the backbone of freedom.”
((Establish Biden with farmers AP4379318))
((NARRATOR))
On Wednesday, Biden announced a number of interventions for farmers. Those include more support so farmers can plant two sets of crops in a year; technology that allows for less fertilizer use; and doubling funding for domestic fertilizer production, to $500 million.
((Establish AP-4379057, also, if you like, here are some cows and wheat at a British farm AFP-V000_32787LL ))
((NARRATOR))
The president of the European Investment Bank this week sounded the alarm, saying that Ukraine is sitting on a staggering amount of wheat.
((Radio: Werner Hoyer, European Investment Bank President))
((SOT, AP, Soundbite 2 from AP-4379057))
((Werner Hoyer, European Investment Bank President))
“Ukraine is the wheat basket of Europe, and it's sitting on €8 billion (8.5 billion U.S. dollars’) worth of wheat right now from last year's harvest. They cannot export it;, they have no access to the sea. This is one of the key issues that we must address, because they are industrious people. They are sowing like crazy right now, and they will expect probably a good harvest, maybe 70% of last year's harvest, in a couple of months, and then what to do with it?”
((Sri Lanka farmer protest: AFP-V000_328Z43A))
((NARRATOR))
Already the effects have spread. Last month, farmers in Sri Lanka participated in strikes over rising food and fuel prices. That movement ultimately resulted in the resignation of the island nation’s Cabinet and prime minister.
((Cameroonian baker making bread, which is scarce: AP-V000_327A9CZ; Protests in Cuba: AFP-V000_9W27C4))
((NARRATOR))
And the crisis is likely to hit hardest in parts of the world where resources are already stretched thin, analysts say.
((Radio: Desmond Lachman is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute))
((SOT, English, Zoom, From 9:10 https://app.frame.io/projects/ae30dd8f-b6c4-418a-b02d-530603115a58/d51eb660-27d6-47df-afa1-1e8a79d795e0))
((Desmond Lachman, American Enterprise Institute)) ((Zoom))
“This is a real reversal for the global economy. And those are the countries that are impacted the most — countries that are very reliant on food and energy imports are really going to get hit very hard. And politically, it’s going to be extremely difficult for those countries.”
((Wheat in Iraq (the birthplace of grain cultivation): AFP-V000_329F8HR. Also soybeans in Argentina: AFP-V000_329J9CZ and Argentine farmers on a strike over fuel prices AFP-V000_328C8EX ))
((NARRATOR))
History shows that the humble grain holds immense power.
((Bastille day in France: AFP-V000_9W27C4; AFP-V000_9EZ7KJ; Statue of Liberty at French Embassy, AFP-V000_9EX3NT))
((NARRATOR))
When the price of bread shot up in 1788 France, peasants revolted, hungry for governance ruled by the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. The next year, the revolution came.
((Anita Powell, VOA News, Washington))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Washington D.C.
Embargo DateMay 11, 2022 22:10 EDT
Byline((Anita Powell, VOA News, Washington))
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
