On Monday, August 3, 2020, U. S. Representatives Cheri Bustos, Marcia L. Fudge, Annie Kuster, and Chellie Pingree led a group of 19 House Democrats, in a letter to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary, Sonny Perdue. Their letter sounded the alarm on the USDA’s failure to help small farms; farmers of color; beginning, minority, and veteran farmers; others. The USDA [mishandled] its implementation of direct payments to farmers and ranchers under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and the Farmers to Families Food Box Program.
In addition to concerns about the impact of the USDA’s implementation of the programs on critical minority-owned and small farms, the lawmakers also questioned the criteria used to award large contracts under the Farmers to Families Food Box Program. They called into question the fact that producers with strong connections to food supply chains in their region were passed over, for companies that lacked experience working with food banks or in wholesale food distribution.
The group also noted that to date, the Farmers to Families Food Box Program has failed to meet its goal of delivering 40 million boxes by the end of June. Additionally, it has not provided information on which non-profits have received boxes in each State.
“It has become abundantly clear that direct payments to producers have largely overlooked small farms, and those that are owned by beginning, veteran, minority, and socially-disadvantaged farmers. The need amongst these stakeholders is significant,” the Lawmakers wrote to Perdue. “As you know, farmers of color have long faced documented discrimination from USDA programs….Little has changed to slow the decline of the number of black farmers and their acreage from where they were a century ago.”