Jun 23, 2020

Farmers to Families Food Box Program reaches 20M boxes distributed

USDA announced June 23 that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farmers to Families Food Box Program has distributed more than 20 million food boxes in support of American farmers and families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Over the past few weeks, the Farmers to Families Food Box Program has continued to pick up steam, getting food in the hands of more and more Americans while providing much needed support to our agricultural sector,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. “This milestone is a testament that the program is accomplishing what we intended – supporting U.S. farmers and distributors and getting food to those who need it most. It’s a real trifecta, which is why we call it a win-win-win.”

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING:

Ben Brukett, Indian Springs Farmers’ Association: “This is helping me have a market for my corn, because my main customer base was New Orleans and this is a blessing, a Godsend to farmers like me, because we had stuff in the field and we really didn’t know where we were going to sell it, because it doesn’t stay in the field when you’re ready to harvest it.”

Leslie Cooperband, co-owner of Prairie Fruits: “This is government working.”

John Corso, CEO of Coastal Sunbelt Produce: “This program is an elegant solution…leverages our sourcing capabilities… and allows us to put our people back to work while serving our community…We’re delivering the same quality of food with the same level of service.”

Central Illinois Produce, John Rollins: “I’m just happy making boxes. It’s a great feeling. For us, it’s giving people really high quality produce … So many people were hired back and putting these boxes together. It is really, really having an impact.” 

Allie Wainer, Sid Wainer & Son: “We feel so fortunate to take part in the Farmers to Families Food Box Program. During these unprecedented times, we have been able to pivot our products and resources that we typically supply restaurants with, to supporting the local community. It is important to stay connected as a community and this program helps the community rally around eating well, and being well.”

Michael Joyner, president of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association: “It’s a great way to help our growers who are still harvesting and getting fresh fruits and vegetables to those who need it. We’re grateful to the administration for providing this program and supporting our farmers.”

North Carolina Farm Bureau: “This is a great program! It gives farmers a new market for their goods AND it feeds our NC communities!” 

Sunrise Produce Company: “This program is providing millions and millions of fresh food boxes across the country to those in need, and we cannot be more excited to be one of the many providing them…The gratitude and appreciation we are seeing from our partners and communities is heartwarming.”

SunTerra Produce: “With the help of our amazing growers, shippers, box assembly team, buyers, and logistics specialists, we are proud to report that today we shipped our 100,000th Farmers to Families food box in just 2 weeks….All delivered to communities in need in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture!”

More on what they are saying can be found HERE.

BACKGROUND:

Regular updates to the number of food boxes distributed will be posted on USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) website.

On April 17, 2020, Secretary Perdue announced the program as part of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program developed to help farmers, ranchers and consumers in response to the COVID-19 national emergency.

In response, AMS developed the Farmers to Families Food Box Program and partnered with national, regional and local suppliers, whose workforce has been significantly impacted by the closure of restaurants, hotels and other food service businesses. Suppliers package food products into family-sized boxes and then transport them to food banks, community and faith-based organizations, and other non-profits serving Americans in need.

In under 30 days, the program contracted for $1.2 billion in food products including $461 million in fresh fruits and vegetables, $317 million in a variety of dairy products, $258 million in meat products and $175 million in a combination box of fresh produce, dairy or meat products, and began distribution of the food boxes across the United States on May 15, 2020.

Since then, over 20 million food boxes have been distributed to families in need while providing much needed support to critically impacted agricultural sectors.

The initial round of Farmers to Families Food Box Program contracts worth $1.2 billion will be completed June 30. USDA is continuing its commitment to support of American agriculture and families by extending some well performing contractors through the next performance period, July 1-Aug. 31, for up to $1.16 billion of food.

USDA will use this next performance period to continue providing great service in areas that are well represented and focus improvement efforts on increasing access to the program in underserved areas up to the program’s $3 billion authorization.