USDA has outlined its plan for boosting food banks and food purchases, using up to $1 billion from recent congressional spending packages.
The information comes in the wake of USDA ending the Farmers to Families Food Box program. However, USDA has insisted that it will use the "best of" from the Food Box effort to make changes to other food/nutrition programs.
USDA said it will use nearly $500 million from recent spending packages to expand the network of providers through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to aid food banks and local organizations in meeting ongoing needs in their communities. Another $400 million will be used by the Agricultural Marketing Service to expand the pool of local and regional farmers and ranchers, including minority farmers, servicing food bank networks. One of the keys in the USDA effort was providing $100 million for storage and refrigeration capacity.
The agency will use cooperative agreements with state and tribal governments and local groups that encourage purchases from local, regional and socially disadvantaged producers. The Food and Nutrition Service will use $100 million for a new grant program to help food aid groups meet TEFAP requirements and expand their service to rural, remote and high poverty communities.
Meanwhile, USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service issued a thank-you letter to participants in the Food Box effort. "We now have an opportunity to address long-standing issues in the U.S. food system by building it back better," the agency said.