The COVID-19 pandemic has created new federal feeding programs and put strains on existing programs, and industry advocates at the United Fresh Produce Association’s virtual Washington Conference said the need isn’t over yet.
Since it was created in April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program has contracted with almost 200 produce distributors. Those distributors delivered, as of Sept. 23, more than 97 million boxes of produce, dairy and meat to families in need, according a United Fresh issues brief and the USDA website. With about $4 billion budgeted for all food boxes, an estimated $1.7 billion will be spent on produce alone through Oct. 31.
“It will be critical to share the positive impact this program has on our industry in order to see it continue,” according to the United Fresh brief.
During a Sept. 23 Washington Conference session on the future of federal feeding programs, Mollie Van Lieu, senior director of nutrition policy for United Fresh, said the “specific asks” the organization has in the Washington Conference are focused on nutrition programs related to COVID-19.
“We want to find ways to help supply and support the fresh produce supply chain during this time, and make sure that everyone is intact, and can return to our new normal,” she said. “We also want to make sure that vulnerable Americans and children in particular have access to fresh produce during this time.”
Mark Munger, vice president of sales and marketing for 4Earth Farms, Los Angeles, said the food box program is a big win for growers and the entire supply chain.
“It just seemed rare to have a program that was put together in a crisis that yielded so many positive benefits,” Munger said at the online session. “For us, it really helped replace a lot of our lost foodservice sales, which was huge.”
End of the line?
While the Farmers to Families Food Box Program is “far from perfect,” it has represented an unprecedented opportunity for fresh produce to be part of USDA’s emergency feeding and nutrition program, Van Lieu said. At a Sept. 22 online presentation at the Washington Conference, she said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue indicated the USDA is ready to get “back to normal” in terms of how the agency feeds people in emergency situations.
Perdue also said the foodservice market could go back to private market demand, rather than be supported by the food box program, Van Lieu said.
Before the food box program, 95% of USDA fruit and vegetable purchases for emergency feeding program were non-fresh, Van Lieu said.
“So if we go back to the status quo, except for that 5%, we are going to be cut out of that equation,” she said. “So we want to collectively find ways that (the program) works for all stakeholders, so that we can make sure that emergency feeding sites have access to fresh fruits and vegetables.”
And while the fresh produce industry would love to have a thriving foodservice sector, that still is not the case.
“That’s not the reality we’re living in; restaurants are not back, foodservice is not back, and it won’t be (back) on Nov. 1 when the current contracts (for the food box program) expire,” she said.
Related stories:
Sonny Perdue details relief plans at Washington Conference
