Up to $1 Billion to Fund Third Round of Box Deliveries
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Food box
The White House has announced it will add an additional $1 billion to the Farmers to Families food box program. The money will support farmers and families in need.
Since the program began in May, it has provided more than 70 million boxes of food to hungry residents across the country.
“I’m so proud of the people of USDA for designing this program in record time. With this additional up to $1 billion in funding, the Farmers to Families Food Box Program will continue to save countless jobs, support our farmers and move food to where it’s needed most,” said U.S. D.A. Secretary Sonny Perdue. “As the president said, when a food box is delivered to a family, we show them that in this country no one is forgotten.”
The program purchases products from American famers and food producers who were hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. When the economy shut down, shuttering schools, churches, daycares and restaurants, the food chain was broken. Growers were destroying produce or letting it rot in the field, while tons of dairy products were dumped down the drain.
The Farmers to Families program pays the growers for the food, then sorts and distributes it to food banks and church groups, those who work with the homeless and other social advocates.
The second round of deliveries will end Aug. 31. The third round hopes to address food insecurity and will focus on distribution into food deserts to reach food insecure people.
The additional money is part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Vendors who participated in the first rounds must resubmit applications to be included in the next round.
That round is expected to run through mid-October.