Efforts Underway to Get Food from US Farms to Americans in Need
2020-05-27
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1Food banks in the United States have struggled to meet increasing demand from people who cannot pay for food because they have lost their jobs.
2At the same time, farmers cannot sell much of their crop food, so many vegetables and meat from farm animals go to waste.
3Now, some states are providing money to help pay for such food.
4The U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA, is spending $3 billion to help get farm crops to food banks.
5"Nobody likes to see waste of good food," said Mark Quandt.
6He is the executive director of the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York.
7But when the coronavirus spread forced restaurants and schools to close, demand for farm products dropped, leaving farmers with too great a food supply.
8Farmers from Florida to California left their crops to die.
9Dairy farmers in Vermont and New York had to throw away millions of liters of milk.
10And animal farmers killed their animals that could not be processed for meat.
11Now, as 39 million Americans have lost their jobs, many depend on food banks to feed them and their families at no cost.
12In Florida, 12 food banks had to increase the food they provide from 6 million pounds of food per week to 10 million pounds.
13A U.S. Census Bureau report found that more than 10 percent of families were not able to get enough food.
14Another report for the non-profit policy group Data Foundation says that 37 percent of those who lost their jobs did not have enough food in the past 30 days.
15The USDA and private companies are trying to make sure that food that would have been wasted is now getting to food banks.
16New York state created a $25 million program to help food banks buy local crops.
17Mark Quandt said he is planning to use the $4.3 million his food bank will receive to buy milk, cheese and other food.
18Chris Noble has a dairy farm in northwestern New York State.
19He said the Nourish New York program bought some of the milk he would have thrown away.
20He worked with other dairy farmers in western New York to send their milk and cheese to a food bank in New York City.
21Noble said he wants "to be able to meet the needs of our community with the food we produce and not see it go to waste."
22In Iowa, state officials and the Iowa Pork Producers Association have raised more than $130,000 to help pay to make pig meat for food banks.
23So far, 364 pigs have been donated.
24"The last thing we want to do is waste anything," said Kevin Rasmussen.
25He donated seven pigs from his northern Iowa farm to the program this month.
26Other states, such as Florida and California, had existing programs to help get donated crops to food banks by paying part of the cost of harvesting them.
27Those programs are getting a lot of donations now.
28California is adding $2 million to the program.
29The biggest effort is the $3 billion USDA program to buy crops for food banks.
30That program has been slowed by ethics issues.
31Critics are questioning the qualifications of several companies that received the first $1.2 billion worth of contracts.
32Celia Cole of the Feeding Texas alliance of food banks said, "Some of the companies that got bids, people are kind of scratching their heads like 'wait this isn't a food distributor, why are they winning the award?'"
33One of the companies that won a contract, for example, is a marriage ceremony planning business in San Antonio, Texas.
34Brent Erenwert is chief of Brothers Produce, a Houston-based vegetable distributor.
35It sought a contract with the USDA but was denied.
36Erenwert said he is concerned that the USDA program will fall short of its goals because of the companies it chose.
37"There's just no way or shape this will help the farmer or the end user that's going to need this product," he said.
38USDA officials said they fully believe the chosen companies can complete the job.
39I'm Caty Weaver.
1Food banks in the United States have struggled to meet increasing demand from people who cannot pay for food because they have lost their jobs. At the same time, farmers cannot sell much of their crop food, so many vegetables and meat from farm animals go to waste. 2Now, some states are providing money to help pay for such food. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA, is spending $3 billion to help get farm crops to food banks. 3"Nobody likes to see waste of good food," said Mark Quandt. He is the executive director of the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York. 4But when the coronavirus spread forced restaurants and schools to close, demand for farm products dropped, leaving farmers with too great a food supply. 5Farmers from Florida to California left their crops to die. Dairy farmers in Vermont and New York had to throw away millions of liters of milk. And animal farmers killed their animals that could not be processed for meat. 6Now, as 39 million Americans have lost their jobs, many depend on food banks to feed them and their families at no cost. 7In Florida, 12 food banks had to increase the food they provide from 6 million pounds of food per week to 10 million pounds. 8A U.S. Census Bureau report found that more than 10 percent of families were not able to get enough food. Another report for the non-profit policy group Data Foundation says that 37 percent of those who lost their jobs did not have enough food in the past 30 days. 9The USDA and private companies are trying to make sure that food that would have been wasted is now getting to food banks. 10New York state created a $25 million program to help food banks buy local crops. Mark Quandt said he is planning to use the $4.3 million his food bank will receive to buy milk, cheese and other food. 11Chris Noble has a dairy farm in northwestern New York State. He said the Nourish New York program bought some of the milk he would have thrown away. He worked with other dairy farmers in western New York to send their milk and cheese to a food bank in New York City. 12Noble said he wants "to be able to meet the needs of our community with the food we produce and not see it go to waste." 13In Iowa, state officials and the Iowa Pork Producers Association have raised more than $130,000 to help pay to make pig meat for food banks. So far, 364 pigs have been donated. 14"The last thing we want to do is waste anything," said Kevin Rasmussen. He donated seven pigs from his northern Iowa farm to the program this month. 15Other states, such as Florida and California, had existing programs to help get donated crops to food banks by paying part of the cost of harvesting them. Those programs are getting a lot of donations now. California is adding $2 million to the program. 16The biggest effort is the $3 billion USDA program to buy crops for food banks. That program has been slowed by ethics issues. Critics are questioning the qualifications of several companies that received the first $1.2 billion worth of contracts. 17Celia Cole of the Feeding Texas alliance of food banks said, "Some of the companies that got bids, people are kind of scratching their heads like 'wait this isn't a food distributor, why are they winning the award?'" 18One of the companies that won a contract, for example, is a marriage ceremony planning business in San Antonio, Texas. 19Brent Erenwert is chief of Brothers Produce, a Houston-based vegetable distributor. It sought a contract with the USDA but was denied. Erenwert said he is concerned that the USDA program will fall short of its goals because of the companies it chose. 20"There's just no way or shape this will help the farmer or the end user that's going to need this product," he said. 21USDA officials said they fully believe the chosen companies can complete the job. 22I'm Caty Weaver. 23The Associated Press reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. 24________________________________________________________________ 25Words in This Story 26dairy - n. a place where cows are raised for their milk to be sold 27milk - n. the product that cows from cows lactating 28distributor - n. one who organizing sending things out to various people n.