USAID has a long history of technical leadership in international agricultural development, drawing upon the expertise of U.S. universities, industry, non-governmental and private voluntary organizations, multilateral development partners and its own technical staff. The Bureau for Food Security, which leads the Feed the Future initiative, leverages the strengths of  other U.S. government partners, multilateral institutions, NGOs, the private sector, universities and civil society organizations to support country-driven strategies, and invests in strengthening both public and private institutions that underpin growth in the agricultural sector.

In 2009, recognizing that solving food insecurity requires engaging the world’s poorest populations toward rapid, sustained economic growth, the U.S.Government double its support for agricultural development in developing countries to more than $1 billion, tasking USAID with a lead role in the endeavor to boost agricultural investment and innovation in some of the most vulnerable countries in the world. The Bureau for Food Security was created in November 2010 to manage the U.S. Government's Feed the Future initiative, as well as traditional agricultural development programs under USAID.