The USDA announced on Friday that it will invest up to $1 billion to expand emergency food networks, bolstering the ability of food banks and local organizations to serve in-need communities. It was the first of several “Build Back Better” initiatives planned by the Biden administration to improve public nutrition.
Funding for the food network project will come from the $1.9 trillion coronavirus package enacted by Congress in March and will go to The Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP. USDA will partner with state, tribal, and community groups to purchase food from local producers, while also supporting infrastructure essential to reaching under-served communities. The investment, according to a USDA statement, will not only get food to hungry families, but will “ensure producers receive a fair share of the food dollar.”
“Hunger is on the decline … but we must do more to improve partnerships and infrastructure that power emergency food distribution to ensure the food provided is nutritious and supports a better food system,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. “Now is the time to apply lessons learned from food assistance activities early in the pandemic to improve how USDA purchases food and supports on-the-ground organizations with TEFAP. We will put special emphasis on reaching rural, remote and under-served communities, local and regional food systems, and socially disadvantaged farmers.”
Half of the funds will go directly to food providers, with the USDA purchasing some $500 million in food from registered vendors and creating a special solicitation process for small businesses and businesses owned by women, veterans and minorities. Another $400 million will go to farmers, focusing on local and regional producers and those from disadvantaged communities. The remaining $100 million will fund infrastructure grants designed to improve food-bank capacity, enabling pantries to expand their footprint into hard-to-reach communities.
The pandemic’s economic impact strained emergency food providers, which lacked the resources to meet rising need. By supporting food providers and producers, the initiative seeks to get food to struggling families and build food-system resiliency moving forward, addressing long-term inequities and gaps in access that exacerbated hunger during the pandemic.
In a thank-you letter to vendors and nonprofit groups who took part in the Farmers to Families Food Box giveaway program, the USDA said the Build Back Better initiatives would be a bridge between lingering concerns associated with the pandemic and long-term challenges to the U.S. food supply. More than 173 million boxes of produce, precooked meat and dairy products were distributed during the one-year life of the food box program, which expired at the end of May.
“Assistance needs are changing,” said the USDA, and so are the department’s programs. Billions of dollars of food assistance is being provided through SNAP and Pandemic EBT. SNAP benefits were temporarily increased 15 percent through Sept. 30.
States will issue nearly $13 billion in summer P-EBT to help low-income families buy food for children while schools are closed. It was one of the first times USDA estimated the cost of summer P-EBT benefits. Some 30 million school-age children and children under age 6 are eligible.