June 16, 2021 — Personal protective equipment, or PPE, has increased costs to seafood processors during the pandemic but the USDA wants to help cut those costs.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Tuesday additional aid to agricultural producers and businesses as part of the USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative.
May 27, 2021 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded nearly USD 20.9 million (EUR 17 million) in contracts as it continues to purchase Alaska pollock for use in federal food and nutrition assistance programs.
Two suppliers nabbed the pollock contracts: Seattle, Washington-based Trident Seafood earned USD 15.1 million (EUR 12.4 million) worth of the contract, while Channel Fish Processing in Braintree, Massachusetts, snared nearly USD 5.8 million (EUR 4.8 million).
May 21, 2021 — Pistachios are my favorite nut. I can house a whole bag of those in no time at all. Apparently the American government is into them too, because they’re not buying just a bunch, but a massive amount. During times of crop and product surpluses, the USDA will buy up extra to keep America’s food banks stocked; in 2016, it bought $20 million in cheese. Now, Food & Wine reports, the government is buying up millions of dollars of pistachios, among other delicious bounties.
It’s obvious that COVID-19 has mucked up all sorts of farming supply issues, and plenty of Americans are having a hard time getting by. So the USDA is currently making big buys to help those that produce food and those who need it. Last week the Biden administration announced that the USDA would be purchasing $159.4 million worth of seafood, fruits, legumes, and nuts. Of that, $70.9 million will be spent on seafood, the largest government seafood purchase ever.
“The impacts of COVID-19 reverberated from our farms to our oceans,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “U.S. fisheries and the American seafood industry were dealt a heavy blow…. These healthy, nutritious food purchases will benefit food banks and non-profits helping those struggling with food hardship as the Biden Administration works to get the economy back on track for American families.”
May 18, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK):
U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Congressman Don Young, all R-Alaska, applauded the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) approval of a Section 32 purchase of up to $159.4 million in domestically produced seafood, fruits, legumes, and nuts for distribution to food assistance programs in Alaska and across the country.
“Whether it is farmers, ranchers, food workers, seafood harvesters or others, the COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for Alaska’s farm and food economies, both on land and at sea. These impacts have only exacerbated longstanding disparities in food insecurity, with millions of American households struggling to put enough food on the table. Food banks are busier than ever as families across the U.S. worry about where their next meal will come from,” said the Alaska Congressional Delegation. “This historic purchase of foods to assist our food producers and hungry Americans – including the largest single seafood purchase in the USDA’s history – will have a tremendous impact on the struggling seafood sector, and will also ensure food assistance programs can provide nutritious and healthy food for Americans as we continue to navigate the pandemic. We thank Secretary Vilsack and the Administration for their focus on addressing these dual needs and look forward to continuing to work with the USDA to expand seafood support in their programs in the future.”
Background: These foods are being purchased with Section 32 funds, so named because the funds are authorized by Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act. The Act authorizes a percentage of customs receipts to be transferred to the Secretary of Agriculture to support the prices of surplus domestic commodities and to distribute those commodities through various USDA programs designed to feed hungry Americans. Foods purchased with Section 32 funds are distributed to schools, childcare programs, senior citizens, food banks, victims of disasters, and Indian tribes through programs such as the National School Lunch Program, the Summer Food Service Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, and the Emergency Food Assistance Program. The Section 32 purchase announced today will include: Alaska pollock, apricots (canned, dried, and frozen), chickpeas, dry peas, Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic wild-caught shrimp, lentils, navy beans, Pacific pink shrimp, Pacific rockfish fillets, Pacific whiting fillets, pistachios, prepared peaches, and sockeye (red) salmon.
May 14, 2021 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced a first-time purchase of several West Coast seafood products for its food assistance programs. The news is being well received by the regional seafood industry.
Over the past year, the nationwide closure of restaurants has caused a 70 percent drop in the seafood market, according to Lori Steele. She’s executive director for the West Coast Seafood Processors Association, which represents Oregon, Washington, and California.
Now Steele says out of $160 million the USDA is using to buy domestic products, $17 million will go towards seafood commercially harvested on the West Coast.
“The exciting part is they want to purchase all three of the products that we requested: Pink shrimp, rock fish, and whiting,” adds Steele. “$17 million is a really great start to this relationship.”
May 14, 2021 — Last week the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $92.2 million in competitive grant funding through the 2018 Farm Bill’s Local Agriculture Market Program as part of USDA’s Pandemic Assistance for Producers Initiative.
The Local Agriculture Market Program includes $77 million for the Farmers Market Promotion Program and Local Food Promotion Program. What does this mean for the fishing industry? Both grant programs are open to seafood businesses, tribes, NGOs, and fishing associations who are involved in local, regional, and direct seafood marketing and distribution. This injection of funding represents a major opportunity to strengthen the resilience of our nation’s food system and put domestic seafood on our country’s menu in a meaningful way.
The United States is a major producer of seafood. However, an estimated 71 to 90 percent of the seafood we consume is imported. Our reliance on seafood trade makes our seafood economy vulnerable to socioeconomic, political and environmental shocks. No more apparent has this been than during the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. According to NOAA Fisheries, landings were down by an astonishing 29 percent during the first seven months of the pandemic in the United States. This affects everyone from the fishing crews to captains, dealers, processors, and shoreside communities.
May 14, 2021 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today that it will purchase $70.9 million of domestic wild seafood, registering its largest purchase of U.S. seafood to date.
The purchase, made possible under the Agricultural Adjustment Act, is one of many actions USDA is taking to address food insecurity and disruptions in the food system supply chain exacerbated by the pandemic.
The seafood purchases come from a $159.4 million commitment to buying domestic seafood, fruits, legumes and nuts for distribution to a variety of domestic food assistance programs, including charitable institutions.
“The impacts of covid-19 reverberated from our farms to our oceans,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement. “U.S. fisheries and the American seafood industry were dealt a heavy blow. Today, USDA is pleased to make the largest single seafood purchase in the department’s history. These healthy, nutritious food purchases will benefit food banks and non-profits helping those struggling with food hardship as the Biden administration works to get the economy back on track for American families.”
May 14, 2021 — The following was released by the United States Department of Agriculture:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced it will purchase up to $159.4 million in domestically produced seafood, fruits, legumes, and nuts for distribution to a variety of domestic food assistance programs, including charitable institutions. These purchases are being made utilizing funds under the authority of Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (Pub. L. 74-320), as amended (Section 32). This is one of many actions USDA is taking to address the disruptions in the food system supply chain and worsened food insecurity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The impacts of COVID-19 reverberated from our farms to our oceans,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “U.S. fisheries and the American seafood industry were dealt a heavy blow. Today, USDA is pleased to make the largest single seafood purchase in the Department’s history. These healthy, nutritious food purchases will benefit food banks and non-profits helping those struggling with food hardship as the Biden Administration works to get the economy back on track for American families.”
Selected commodities include: Alaska pollock, apricots (canned, dried, and frozen), chickpeas, dry peas, Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic wild-caught shrimp, lentils, navy beans, Pacific pink shrimp, Pacific rockfish fillets, Pacific whiting fillets, pistachios, prepared peaches, and sockeye (red) salmon. The inventories of these commodities are in high oversupply due to a decrease in demand because of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption in the supply chain, as restaurants and other outlets closed during the pandemic. This is the largest purchase of U.S. raised seafood by the USDA to date.
Within a few days of approval, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service will offer these commodities to their networks. Orders should be received during the first week of June with solicitations being issued mid-June and awards occurring near the end of the month. Deliveries should start to occur by mid-August.
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.
May 13, 2021 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today that it will purchase up to $159.4 million of seafood and other items as part of its Section 32 food assistance program. This purchase marks “the largest single seafood purchase in the Department’s history,” according to the agency.
It’s good to see USDA recognize the importance of our essential workers as well as provide Americans with healthy seafood. NFI looks forward to working with the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) on this as they begin the procurement process.
The seafood community and the 1.7 million Americans jobs along its value chain, has been hit hard by the pandemic from the men and women who work the water to processors, distributors and retailers and restaurants that offer seafood. Most of the links in that vital chain are small businesses that have struggled to survive. Help, like this, will greatly benefit recovery and help get Americans back to work.
May 12, 2021 — Seafood farms popping up all along the coast have Maine’s aquaculture industry primed for a boom and two organizations in the state are preparing to meet its workforce needs with a first-of-its-kind training program.
The Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center and Washington County Community College received a $500,000 grant to be paid out over three years from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop an aquaculture-specific training program at the college.
The program will aim to meet the growing need for tech-savvy, skilled workers in four of the largest aquaculture subsets: land-based recirculating aquaculture, marine fin-fish aquaculture, cold-water coastal shellfish aquaculture and marine macroalgae aquaculture. Students will graduate with either a workforce training certificate or an associate’s degree.
“Aquaculture is the fastest-growing form of agriculture in the U.S.,” said Chris Davis, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center.