The Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust is a reserve of commodities and cash held in trust to supplement food aid made available under P.L. 480 programs. The Trust can hold up to 4 million metric tons of wheat, corn, sorghum, and rice; the authorizing statute also authorizes the Trust to hold cash in lieu of commodities.
The Trust was first established as the Food Security Wheat Reserve in 1980 in P.L.96-494, Title III. Subsequently the authorization for this reserve was expanded to include corn, rice, and sorghum in addition to wheat by the 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127, Sec. 225). Renamed the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust in 1998 legislation (P.L. 105-385, Sec. 211) which also authorized it to hold cash in addition to commodities, it was extended through 2007 by the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 3202). Commodities (or cash) can be released from the Trust to meet unanticipated needs for emergency food assistance or when domestic supplies are insufficient to meet P.L. 480 (7 U.S.C. 1736f-1) programming requirements.
The trust was established by the Africa: Seeds of Hope Act of 1998. It is named for U.S. Congressman Bill Emerson, who served in the House of Representatives from 1981 until his death in 1996.