Ending millions of dollars in grants by U.S.A.I.D. also resulted in the potential closing of research programs at universities across the country. The University of Nebraska, for instance, had a five-year, $19 million grant to develop irrigation techniques in developing nations. Funding for that and other grants has been either terminated or sharply reduced, putting the research in jeopardy.
“We are very, very large beneficiaries of government contracts,” said Dr. Jeffrey Gold, the president of the University of Nebraska, saying that the consequences of such pauses in funding were more far-ranging than many would believe. Elected officials, he added, should “understand that public land-grant institutions like us are being directly and significantly impacted by these changes.”
Some of the ramifications have been averted, for now. In moving to shut U.S.A.I.D., the Trump administration also issued, and then rescinded, stop-work orders to some American manufacturers of food sent abroad.
One nonprofit in Georgia, Mana, produces ready-to-use therapeutic food to address childhood malnutrition. It buys about two million pounds of peanuts monthly from American farmers, according to Mana’s chief executive, Mark Moore.
About $12 million worth of Mana’s products — 300,000 boxes, each containing 150 sachets of food to treat severe malnutrition for six weeks — is waiting to leave the Port of Savannah. Mr. Moore did not expect this particular shipment to be delayed, but he was also uncertain whether U.S.A.I.D. would foot the bill or if it would deliver future shipments.
“The real impact of the shutdown will happen a month from now, six weeks from now, when the supply chain begins to crumble, which by that time, will it still be a story?” he asked.
Alan Rappeport contributed reporting from Washington, and Eli Tan from San Francisco.
