Public Affairs
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2022 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced it will purchase up to $50 million in domestically produced rice for distribution to a variety of domestic food assistance programs, including charitable institutions. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has approved the purchase of rice to assist the U.S. rice industry through USDA’s authorities under the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act.
USDA is focused on ensuring Americans have consistent access to the safe, healthy, affordable food. Using CCC funds, USDA will purchase nutritious rice products for distribution to food-insecure Americans through food banks and other domestic food assistance programs. This is one of many actions USDA is taking to address the disruptions in the domestic food supply chain and worsened risk of hunger and food insecurity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty-five percent of America’s workforce is directly or indirectly impacted by the food and agriculture industry; that represents a significant percentage of our Gross Domestic Product. It is critical that we support our producers in responding to disruptions to the supply chain.
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) expects to issue a solicitation notice and begin awarding contracts in October with deliveries to food banks beginning in November. Solicitations will be available electronically through the Web-Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) system and on the Agricultural Marketing Service's website at www.ams.usda.gov/selling-food. To be eligible to submit offers, potential contractors must meet the AMS vendor qualification requirements and be domestic operations.
Each year AMS collaborates with the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to purchase and distribute over $3 billion of U.S. agricultural products for distribution to schools, food banks and other domestic nutrition programs, such as The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). USDA purchases relatively inexpensive and nutritious consumer-friendly products produced by American farmers, producers, and ranchers that are in oversupply. Selected vendors provide the products to applicable nutrition assistance programs within the FNS network.
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USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
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