The Trump administration’s much-criticized food box will be replaced for the moment by a $400 million dairy donation initiative and fresh produce distributed through a longstanding USDA program, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday. “We are obviously trying to take the best of the food box program and institute it … into our traditional distribution system.”
The food box program will be phased out by May 31 after having spent roughly $5.5 billion since last May 15. To date, contractors have delivered nearly 157 million boxes of fresh produce, dairy products, and pre-cooked pork and chicken to food banks, churches, and other nonprofits. “There will be no single replacement for this temporary effort, but we will utilize existing and new programs to meet the needs it fulfilled as long as those needs exist,” said a USDA spokesman.
During a House hearing, Vilsack said the government would continue to donate wholesome food to hungry Americans. “I think you’re going to see it in a slightly different mechanism that’s much more efficient and less costly, which means we’re going to have more resources for more food for more people.”
As examples, he pointed to a new initiative, using pandemic relief funds, to buy 10- to 12-pound boxes of fresh produce for distribution to food banks through The Emergency Food Assistance Program. The USDA has yet to decide whether the produce boxes will be a long-term fixture in TEFAP. Earlier this week, the USDA said it would soon implement a dairy donation program with $400 million allotted by the pandemic relief bill enacted at the end of 2020. Retroactive reimbursements will be available, it said, encouraging processors to continue current donations.
“The reality is the food box program was set up to respond to Covid,” said Vilsack during the online hearing on the USDA’s budget for fiscal 2022. But there were “a lot of problems” with the food box, he said.
The Farmers to Families Food Box program relied on contractors to buy surplus food at the local level, package it, and deliver the boxes to food banks and other nonprofits. The cost of the boxes fluctuated from $28 to $105 apiece, the contents varied from place to place and from week to week, and some contractors refused to deliver the boxes to distribution sites. USDA officials testified last summer that the program was inaugurated on the fly, with no mechanism in place to assure the food was distributed equitably.
Sonny Perdue, agriculture secretary for President Trump, said the program was a win-win-win because it responded to three problems: farmers losing sales due to the near-collapse of the food service sector, food distributors being idled by the pandemic, and the surge in hunger nationwide. The Trump administration, which repeatedly opposed increases in SNAP benefits during the pandemic, put the spotlight on the food box with events that included a presidential visit to a produce packing shed in North Carolina. During the visit, Trump announced $1 billion in additional funding for food boxes during remarks with re-election overtones.
Perdue was reprimanded by a federal ethics official last October for soliciting votes for Trump during the supposedly nonpolitical trip to the North Carolina packing shed. Perdue described the food box as “an outpouring of compassion. … And that’s what’s going to continue to happen — four more years — if America gets out and votes for this man, Donald J. Trump.”
Defenders said the food box giveaway was invaluable in helping food banks cope with unprecedented demand for help. Farm groups called for an extension of the program because it was an outlet for their products.
To watch a video of the three-hour hearing or to read Vilsack’s written testimony, click here.