The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved the contracts for the fifth round of the Farmers to Families Food Box Program.
The contracts extend the program, established in May to help produce and other food distributors get their products to people during the COVID-19 pandemic, through the end of April.
The program has distributed more than 133 million boxes of fresh produce, dairy products and meat products across the country, according to the USDA. The list of approved companies is on the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program website.
The three dozen contracts are for $354.46 million. The contracts were available to companies that were previously approved for Basic Ordering Agreements, a process the USDA initiated to ensure suppliers were able to work the food banks and other charities serving as distribution sites for the food boxes.
The Round 5 funding was included in a COVID-19 relief package in the Consolidated Appropriations Act passed on Dec. 21. The most recent round also allows suppliers to add pre-cooked seafood products to the boxes.
