U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue introduced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will launch a 3rd spherical of Farmers to Families Food Box Program purchases with distributions to happen starting by September 1 with completion by October 31, 2020. The purchases will spend the stability of $three billion approved for this system. So far, over 46 million Farmers to Families Food Boxes have been invoiced and delivered.
“This third round of Farmers to Families Food Box Program purchases is a testament to the great work done by vendors in support of American agriculture and the American people. It is also a testament that the program is accomplishing what we intended – supporting U.S. farmers and distributors and getting food to those who need it most. It’s a real trifecta, which is why we call it a win-win-win,” mentioned Secretary Perdue. “The efforts of everyone involved form the backbone of the Farmers to Families Food Box Program and its goal to help fill the hunger gap in all of our communities.”
“The Farmers to Families Food Box Program has created a tangible link between hungry families and struggling farmers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” mentioned Advisor to the President, Ivanka Trump. “Through this third round of Farmers to Families Food Box purchases announced today, the Trump Administration continues its steadfast commitment to supporting our farmers, bolstering our workforce and feeding families most in need during this critical time.”
Background:
In this third spherical of purchases, USDA plans to buy mixture packing containers to guarantee all recipient organizations have entry to contemporary produce, dairy merchandise, fluid milk, and meat merchandise.
Eligibility within the third spherical will likely be open to entities who can meet the federal government’s necessities and specs. Proposals will likely be anticipated to illustrate how protection will likely be supplied to areas recognized as alternative zones, element subcontracting agreements, and handle the “last mile” supply of product into the arms of the meals insecure inhabitants.
A discover explaining the solicitation course of will likely be issued within the days to include a webinar and different instructional alternatives supplied for these all for taking part.
In the continuing second round of buying and distribution, which started July 1 and can conclude Aug. 31, 2020, USDA goals to buy up to $1.47 billion of meals for this system. For the second spherical, USDA prolonged contracts of choose distributors from the primary spherical of this system value up to $1.27 billion. Some contracts weren’t prolonged on the distributors’ request or decreased primarily based on data supplied by the contractor. Additionally, within the second spherical, USDA authorised up to $202 million in new contracts, through a brand new acquisition exercise, with choose distributors whose presents weren’t beforehand accepted due to numerous points of their proposals. These distributors had been chosen to enhance the give attention to Opportunity Zones so as to direct meals to attain underserved areas, locations the place both no packing containers have but been delivered, or the place packing containers are being delivered however the place there may be further want.
The first round of purchases totaling greater than $947 million occurred from May 15 via June 30, 2020.
Source: Morning Ag Clips