USDA’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program has distributed more than 50 million food boxes in support of American farmers and families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 17, 2020, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the program as part of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program developed to help farmers, ranchers, distributors and consumers in response to the COVID-19 national emergency.
From May 15 through June 30, the first period of performance, the program successfully delivered 35 million boxes, valued at $947 million in support of American farmers and families.

To build on that success, USDA extended some well performing distributors to continue food deliveries for purchases up to $1.27 billion and also awarded $202 million to new distributors to continue increasing capacity in underserved areas, for the second performance period of July 1 through Aug. 31, 2020.

Last week, USDA announced it would launch a third round of Farmers to Families Food Box Program purchases with distributions to occur beginning by September 1 with completion by October 31, 2020.

Eligibility in the third round will be open to entities who can meet the government’s requirements and specifications.

Updates to the number of food boxes verified as delivered will continue to be displayed on the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) website, with breakdowns by performance period on the Farmers to Families Food Box Program page.