The Trump administration will spend $1.5 billion on a fifth round of the Farmers to Families Food Box Program, drawing on money from the latest coronavirus relief package, said the USDA on Monday. It was the first use by the USDA of $13 billion in the package for public nutrition programs.
The package also boosted SNAP benefits by 15 percent through June 30, expanded the P-EBT program to include children under the age of 6 who live in households enrolled in SNAP and provided $614 for public nutrition in Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the new round of food boxes “will go a long way in helping American families access nutritious and healthy meals as we recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.” More than 132 million of the boxes were distributed last year. Critics say the program is an inefficient use of federal money and did not distribute food equitably.