When its goal of $1.2 billion in food distributed to food banks and other entities through the Farmers to Families Food Box program was not met by June 30, the USDA has announced it is renewing contracts and adding distributors to the effort.
At its page devoted to the Farmers to Families program,
https://www.ams.usda.gov/selling-food-to-usda/farmers-to-families-food-box, the USDA outlined progress since the first round of boxes was distributed between May 15 and June 30. During that time period, 32.4 million boxes were invoiced. The second round runs from July 1 through Aug. 31, and as of July 8 695,000 boxes had been invoiced.
FFFB was launched on April 17 by USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue as part of the Coronavirus Food Assistance program.
“Through this program, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is partnering with national, regional and local suppliers, whose workforce has been significantly impacted by the closure of restaurants, hotels and other food service businesses, to purchase up to $3 billion in fresh produce, dairy and meat products,” the USDA explains on the website. “The first round of purchases totaling up to $1.2 billion occurred from May 15 through June 30, 2020. The second round will aim to purchase up to $1.47 billion July 1 through Aug. 31, 2020. AMS may elect to extend the period of performance of the contracts, via option periods, dependent upon program success and available remaining funds, up to $3 billion.”
For details on purchases, visit the solicitations page.
