Published 12:30 pm Friday, June 12, 2020
LIBERTY LAKE, Wash. — Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue applauded the success of the federal Farmers to Families Food Box program during a June 11 visit to Washington state, especially in light of how fast the program was put together.
“This typical federal contracting sometimes takes a year to 18 months to get federal contracting procurements done,” Perdue said at a Liberty Lake, Wash., presentation. “Our team at USDA stood this up in less than 30 days.”
When news outlets began reporting milk dumping and vegetables being plowed under, President Donald Trump called Perdue and asked, “Do we have enough food?”
“I said, ‘Mr. President, we have enough food but it’s not in the right places, it’s misaligned,’” Perdue said. “He said, ‘You better figure it out and get me something fast to solve that.’”
The program distributes food originally designated for institutional foodservices such as restaurants and schools, many of which have been closed or curtailed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
USDA is adjusting contracts for the program after reports of late deliveries or companies without relevant experience. “One or two” contracts have been canceled, Perdue said.
“For those non-performers or underperformers, we’re auditing this very closely,” he said. “For most, the good news is, as quickly as this was done, we didn’t have the months to vet out all of the pre-qualification.”
He said USDA is taking a “trust but verify” approach.
“We’re verifying, we’re validating that people are doing what they applied that they can do,” he said. “We could have gotten this done in November, but if people are in need, what’s going to happen from April to November? I’d rather have it done well and quickly, rather than perfectly and months from now.”
Those contractors performing well have the possibility of having their contracts extended for another month, Perdue said. Those decisions will be made by June 15.
The Inland Northwest Farmers Market Association and LINC Foods cooperative are the local contractors for the federal program, said Rob Allen, president of the association board.
Vince Peak, co-founder of Share Farm, based in Spokane, said his company delivers 9,000 pounds of food to families in need each week, directly to their door through the program.
The company established neighborhood vendor networks, Peak said.
“This will be the most efficient model you’re going to find in the U.S,” Peak said. “We are the first and only company to achieve this goal of validating point of origin authenticity in the supply chain, reducing road miles and carbon foodprint and decentralizing the food system to put the power back into the hands of the local farmer.”
“I think this is the first location where we’ve seen really direct-to-the-door delivery,” Perdue said. “Most of them are congregate deliveries where they come, put the box in the trunk and then they drive off. We haven’t seen that direct-to-home delivery.”
USDA proposed a similar home delivery concept for recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, three years ago. Perdue said he still hopes Congress will allow a pilot program.
Perdue said 13 million food boxes have been delivered already, and he expected the total to reach 20 million by the end of the week.
The program costs $1.2 billion. USDA accepted about 200 contracts out of 600 applicants.
USDA did not filter the applications by geography, he said. The agency is now going back to solicit vendors for underserved areas.
