Food for Peace Program Begins Wheat Shipment to Kenya

August 6, 2026

From left to right: Chris Westbrook (Vice President, Gulf Coast, Seafarers International Union), William Campbell (Executive Vice President, Liberty Maritime), Lisa Burley (Office of Cargo and Commercial Sealift, U.S. Maritime Administration), Captain Willie Barrere (President, American Maritime Officers), John Owen (Louisianan Rice Farmer and Chairman of USA Rice), Michelle Bekkering (USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs), Dr. Mike Strain (Commissioner, Louisiana Dept

The Transportation Institute (TI), representing U.S.-flag American shipping companies, joined farmers, millers, longshoremen, merchant mariners, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the World Food Programme (WFP) at the Port of New Orleans to mark the latest Food for Peace shipment of grain bound for Kenya.

The U.S.-flagged LIBERTY GRACE loaded 28,420 metric tons of Louisiana Rice in New Orleans. The vessel will take on wheat in Houston before departing with enough food to feed more than 1 million people facing hunger for an entire year. Kenya is confronting one of its worst food security crises in years, with more than 3.3 million people currently experiencing crisis-level or worse food insecurity.

The event commemorated the restoration of Food for Peace under the leadership of USDA, which assumed administration of the program in 2025. For more than 70 years, Food for Peace has connected American agriculture with humanitarian assistance around the world, helping people affected by some of the world’s most severe hunger crises through partners like WFP. Louisiana plays a distinct role in that mission as both a leading agricultural producer and a major export gateway to deliver lifesaving food around the world.

The vessel is operated by Liberty Maritime Corporation, which operates one of the largest U.S.-flag commercial fleets participating in government cargo preference programs.