The Farmers to Families Food Box giveaway program, the Trump administration’s response to hunger during the coronavirus pandemic, will run through Oct. 31 to use up the last of its $3 billion in funds, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. While the administration hails the program as a trifecta of hunger relief, aid to farmers and a shot in the arm for food distributors, critics in Congress say it is inefficient and lacks the rules to assure aid is distributed fairly.
Some 46.7 million food boxes were invoiced as of Friday. The third round of contracts, to run from Sept. 1-Oct. 31, will exhaust the program’s funding. “The Farmers to Families Food Box Program has created a tangible link between hungry Americans and struggling farmers impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said presidential adviser Ivanka Trump.
At a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing last week, Agriculture Undersecretary Greg Ibach said the program went into operation without a format to assure aid was distributed fairly among the states and there were no eligibility limits, such as income levels, among recipients. Most USDA public nutrition programs provide aid based on need and are directed to low-income people. Under the food-box program, the USDA pays contractors to buy surplus food at the farm level, package it and deliver it to food banks, churches and other nonprofit groups for distribution to hungry people. The contractors are in charge of creating the network of nonprofits that receive the food.
Ibach estimated $500-$700 million would remain when current contracts expire Aug. 31. Perdue was scheduled to take part in a food-box distribution event today in River Mills, North Carolina.