The U.S. Department of Agriculture is making another $1.5 billion available for distributing fresh produce, dairy and meat products through a fifth round of the Farmers to Family Food Box Program.
Contracts, which will be available only to organizations that participated in the fourth round of the program, will be announced by Jan. 19.
The funding comes from the COVID-19 relief package passed Dec. 21, according to a USDA news release. As with the fourth round, the boxes will include produce, meat and dairy products.
The program began May to help producers find outlets for food as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains, as well as help charitable organizations fulfill increased demand as unemployment grew.
So far, 132.5 million of the boxes have been distributed throughout the U.S., according to the USDA.
There are more than 240 organizations that are eligible for the fifth round. They all received Basic Ordering Agreements (BOAs), a process the USDA added to ensure contract awardees have a plan in place to deliver the boxes directly to consumers and that more areas are served.
“Deliveries will begin shortly after awards are issued and continue through the end of April,” according to the USDA release. “Additional BOA proposals will not be reviewed nor accepted at this time.”
A list of eligible companies and organizations is online.
The amounts purchased or allocated throughout the Farmers to Families program are:
- Round 1: $1.2 billion, from May 15-June 30;
- Round 2: $1.78 billion, from July 1-Sept. 18;
- Round 3: up to $1 billion, through Oct. 31;
- Round 4: $463 million, from Nov. 1-Dec. 31.
“This new round of Farmers to Families Food Boxes will go a long way in helping American families access nutritious and healthy meals as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to the President Trump’s leadership, we have helped tens of millions of families and countless farmers with this program,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in the release.
