USDA Invests Nearly $2 Billion, Leverages American Agriculture to Feed Kids & Families

WASHINGTON, September 14, 2022 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture introduced immediately that it’ll present near $2 billion in further funding to meals banks and faculty meal packages for buying American-grown meals. The further help will assist these organizations endure provide chain challenges and elevated meals prices as they proceed to satisfy their mission of offering nutritious meals to children and households in want.

The funds, offered by USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation, or CCC, might be utilized in 3 ways:

• Nearly $1 billion to buy meals for emergency meals suppliers like meals banks
• Nearly $500 million to develop the Local Food Purchase Assistance, or LFPA, cooperative settlement program, by which 49 states, 33 tribes, and 4 territories are already working to buy native meals for his or her emergency meals programs; and
• Nearly $500 million for faculties throughout the nation to buy meals for his or her lunch and breakfast packages, bringing the whole CCC funding in class meals since December 2021 to shut to $2.5 billion, benefiting the roughly 30 million college students who take part in class lunch and 15 million who take part in class breakfast every day.

“Funding these initiatives is paramount within the combat in opposition to starvation, and additional demonstrates the Biden-Harris Administration and USDA’s dedication to strengthen meals and diet safety,” stated Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “We should guarantee Americans have entry to secure, wholesome, inexpensive meals for longevity and optimum well being.”

The funding is a part of the Department’s broader dedication to strengthening the provision chain and making nutritious meals extra accessible for households.

“Food banks and faculties are the spine of our diet security web, serving tens of hundreds of thousands of youngsters and households,” stated Stacy Dean, Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services. “The Biden Administration understands that provide chain disruptions and excessive meals prices have created uncertainties for these essential companions, and we’re dedicated to equipping them with the sources they should hold communities fed, sturdy, and wholesome.”

“These packages immediately join American producers with meals banks and faculties, strengthening our rural economies whereas serving to these most in want,” stated Under Secretary of Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Jenny Lester Moffitt. “As a part of the Biden Administration’s dedication to reworking our nation’s meals system, USDA is devoted to fostering partnerships between producers and meals help packages. Working collectively, farmers, meals banks, and faculties, can enhance our nation’s meals and diet safety.”

The Biden Administration has taken daring, broad-reaching actions to assist mitigate the results of inflation on American households and guarantee they’ll hold wholesome meals on the desk. Other current USDA efforts to assist households address excessive meals prices and different challenges embrace:

• Purchasing as much as $50 million in domestically produced rice: Earlier this week, USDA announced plans to buy rice for distribution to a wide range of home meals help packages, together with charitable establishments, to assist handle the worsened threat of starvation and meals insecurity brought on by disruptions within the home meals provide chain ensuing from the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Providing summertime little one meals advantages: USDA is offering the households of almost 32 million youngsters with roughly $391 per little one for summer season 2022, with increased quantities in Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories. These advantages by the Summer P-EBT program are serving to households cowl meals prices.
• Offering broad help for college meals: In addition to offering faculties with further funds to buy meals, USDA launched a school meals webpage for families with details about making use of without spending a dime and reduced-price college meals; inspired states to maximize their resources for serving extra children by college meals; offered faculties and little one care facilities with additional temporary reimbursements and different flexibilities; and extra.
• Increasing WIC buying energy: USDA prolonged the WIC cash-value benefit enhance by the top of this fiscal yr so WIC households should purchase and devour extra fruit and veggies to help their general well being.
• Bolstering meals banks: On prime of the CCC funds introduced immediately, USDA continues to supply significant funding for food banks and pantries to assist them meet rising wants.
• Strengthening connections and meals entry throughout native and regional meals programs: In addition to the funds introduced immediately, USDA has offered $400 million for native buying by LFPA and $200 million to assist faculties procure native merchandise by the Local Food for Schools cooperative settlement program.
• Supporting a meals system that’s equitable, resilient, and honest. These efforts construct on USDA’s generational funding to rework our meals system in help of extra and higher markets for each customers and producers. Additional particulars on this broader effort can be found at www.usda.gov/build-back-better.

Background on the almost $1 billion buy of meals for emergency meals suppliers:

USDA will use $943 million to acquire USDA Foods to be used by emergency feeding organizations dealing with elevated want. USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and Food and Nutrition Service will work collectively to determine merchandise more than likely to be out there for buy, and provide these merchandise based mostly on a components to The Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP, State companies for additional distribution to native companies, primarily meals banks. USDA will open orders in Fiscal Year 2023, with deliveries occurring on an ongoing foundation all through Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024.

A share of the $943 million will help incidental prices incurred by native companies for the storage and transportation of the USDA Foods, as offered for beneath the authority at part 5(c) of the Charter Act. Funds might be allotted to State companies in proportion to the quantity of meals ordered for native distribution, with all funds handed by to the native companies.

USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and its Commodity Procurement Program yearly purchase greater than $3 billion of domestically produced and processed meat, poultry, fruit, greens, dairy, grains and oilseed. These purchases of healthful, high-quality merchandise, collectively known as USDA Foods, help American agriculture by encouraging the consumption of home meals and supply secure, nutritious meals for a wide range of federal, state and worldwide diet help packages. They are delivered to colleges, meals banks and households in communities throughout the nation and are a significant element of our nation’s meals security web.

Background on the almost $500 million for Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program:

LFPA helps states, territories and tribes to buy meals from traditionally underserved producers in addition to native and regional producers to help emergency meals help efforts. An allocation of $471.5 million might be used for cooperative agreements with states, tribes, and territories to buy domestically out there meals grown inside every state or inside 400 miles of the supply vacation spot that might be distributed to fulfill the distinctive native wants of every group by emergency diet packages, together with meals banks, faculties and organizations that attain underserved communities.

Background on the almost $500 million for faculties throughout the nation to buy meals for his or her lunch and breakfast packages:

An funding of one other $471.5 million might be used for the third spherical of Supply Chain Assistance funds offered to States to help the acquisition of American-grown meals for his or her meal packages. Supply Chain Assistance funding can be utilized by college districts to buy unprocessed and minimally processed home meals comparable to recent fruit, milk, cheese, frozen greens and floor meat. Each state will allocate the funds to colleges based mostly on pupil enrollment, with a minimal quantity per district to make sure that small faculties will not be left behind.

This help builds on the 2 rounds of Supply Chain Assistance funds that totaled almost $2 billion that USDA beforehand allotted in December 2021 and June 2022. These funds ship direct reduction from ongoing provide chain points and enhance the standard and consistency of faculty meals for youngsters in communities experiencing disruptions, making it simpler for faculties to function profitable meal packages.

USDA touches the lives of all Americans every day in so many optimistic methods. In the Biden Administration, USDA is reworking America’s meals system with a higher deal with extra resilient native and regional meals manufacturing, making certain entry to wholesome and nutritious meals in all communities, constructing new markets and streams of revenue for farmers and producers utilizing local weather good meals and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clear vitality capabilities in rural America, and committing to fairness throughout the Department by eradicating systemic boundaries and constructing a workforce extra consultant of America. To study extra, go to www.usda.gov.

More details about these new commodity purchases is obtainable on the AMS Commodity Procurement Program webpage.

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