Food News

Secretary Vilsack announced a new framework at USDA for transforming the food system and making it more fairer, competitive, and resilient after reflecting on the lessons learned during covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing supply chain challenges resulting from global conflict and climate change. Since then, USDA has called this our food system transformation as it is celebrating National Agriculture Day. The theme for the celebration for this year is “Agriculture: Growing a Climate for Tomorrow”.

The efforts USDA is making include expanding meat and poultry processing capacity in every state, bolstering federal procurement from local farms and vendors, and establishing 12 regional food business centers. All these efforts by USDA are creating opportunities for the food system of tomorrow. The food system of tomorrow will be the one that moves us away from the emphasis on productivity towards the food system that is more productive, sustainable, healthy, profitable, and resilient for Americans. Doing so will give more opportunities for local farms to stay in business by creating more markets for themselves, making nutritious food accessible and affordable, and expanding economic opportunities for the ones left behind in the current system.

Some of the transformational investments made by the USDA in the food system of tomorrow include:

• An investment of $1 Billion in the local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement program and local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement program. The investment made in these programs will enable more than 12000 small and mid-sized producers, especially from historically underserved communities to sell only healthy food to schools as well as local food banks.
• An investment of $1 Billion to expand meat and poultry processing capacity and give farmers options to get fair prices for the animals and give options to consumers as well.
• An investment of $420 Million via the resilient food systems infrastructure program to strengthen local and regional food systems to build resilience across the supply chain. USDA has signed cooperative agreements with around 56 states and territory agriculture agencies.

• An investment of $400 Million in 12 Regional food business centers to support producers so that they can provide localized assistance and they can access local and regional supply chains. USDA is making efforts to link producers to wholesalers and distributors.
• USDA is also investing $300 Million in the organic transition initiative to provide much-needed technical assistance to farmers who are transitioning to organic stuff. USDA is expanding opportunities for farmers by enabling them to adopt the value-added practice of organic production. It has already engaged with tens of thousands of farmers via these programs.

The investments USDA is making are meant to provide immediate relief to producers, businesses, and others. USDA recognizes the need to build and strengthen the food system across the supply ranging from how food is produced to how it is prepared.

There have been countless transformations in America over the years to deliver access to safe and nutritious food at home and abroad. Once again, it is time for us to embrace this transformation to ensure America’s agriculture and food supply industry is prepared to deal with the challenges ahead.