Efforts Underway to Get Food from US Farms to Americans in Need

 

Food 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.

Now, 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.

"Nobody likes to see waste of good food," said Mark Quandt. He is the executive¹ director of the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York.

But when the coronavirus spread forced restaurants and schools to close, demand for farm products dropped, leaving farmers with too great a food supply.

Farmers from Florida to California left their crops to die. Dairy² farmers in Vermont and New York had to throw away millions of liters³ of milk. And animal farmers killed their animals that could not be processed for meat.

Now, as 39 million Americans have lost their jobs, many depend on food banks to feed them and their families at no cost.

In Florida, 12 food banks had to increase the food they provide from 6 million pounds of food per week to 10 million pounds.

A U.S. Census⁴ Bureau⁵ 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 Foundation⁶ says that 37 percent of those who lost their jobs did not have enough food in the past 30 days.

The USDA and private companies are trying to make sure that food that would have been wasted is now getting to food banks.

New 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.

Chris Noble has a dairy farm in northwestern New York State. He said the Nourish⁷ 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.

Noble 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."

In Iowa, state officials and the Iowa Pork Producers Association⁸ have raised more than $130,000 to help pay to make pig meat for food banks. So far, 364 pigs have been donated.

"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.

Other 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 donations⁹ now. California is adding $2 million to the program.

The biggest effort is the $3 billion USDA program to buy crops for food banks. That program has been slowed by ethics¹⁰ issues. Critics are questioning the qualifications of several companies that received the first $1.2 billion worth of contracts.

Celia Cole of the Feeding Texas alliance¹¹ 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?'"

One of the companies that won a contract, for example, is a marriage ceremony planning business in San Antonio, Texas.

Brent 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.

"There's just no way or shape this will help the farmer or the end user¹² that's going to need this product," he said.

USDA officials said they fully¹³ believe the chosen companies can complete the job.

I'm Caty Weaver¹⁴.

Words in This Story

dairy - n. a place where cows are raised for their milk to be sold

milk - n. the product that cows from cows lactating

distributor - n. one who organizing sending things out to various people n.

1 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。

2 dairy   

n.牛奶场，乳品店；adj.乳制品的

参考例句：

• The yogurt sold by this dairy is delicious.这家乳品店出售的酸奶非常好喝。
• He kept a few dairy cows.他养了几头奶牛。

3 liters   

n.升( liter的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• In the metric system, measurements are made in metres and liters. 在公制中，用米和升作计量单位。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This can holds five liters of water. 这个容器可装五升水。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

5 bureau   

n.提供或收集消息的机构；局，司，处；署

参考例句：

• The weather bureau makes daily reports on weather conditions.气象局每天报告天气状况。
• The Tourist Bureau arranged everything for our journey to Rome.旅游局已为我们去罗马旅行准备了一切。

6 foundation   

n.[pl.]地基；基础；基金会；建立，创办

参考例句：

• The foundation of the university took place 600 years ago.这所大学是600年前创办的。
• The Foundation gives money to help artists.那家基金会捐款帮助艺术家。

7 nourish   

vt.滋养，给予营养，养育，持有或怀有

参考例句：

• They needed good food to nourish their bodies.他们需要好食品滋养身体。
• I could find nothing to nourish my suspicion.我找不到任何怀疑的根据。

8 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

9 donations   

n.捐赠( donation的名词复数 )；赠送；捐款；捐赠物

参考例句：

• The hospital receives a good deal of money in donations. 这家医院收到捐赠来的大笔款项。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The charity is completely reliant on public donations. 这一慈善团体完全依靠公众捐款。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

11 alliance   

n.同盟，同盟国，结盟，联姻

参考例句：

• China will not enter into alliance with any big power.中国不同任何大国结盟。
• The new alliance was very much in evidence.新的联盟上星期很引人注目。

12 user   

n.用户，使用者

参考例句：

• The company is the biggest user of oil.该公司是最大的石油用户。
• The umbrella keeps the rains off the user.雨伞使撑伞人免受雨淋。

13 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

14 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。