USDA is pursuing an ambitious and novel plan to deliver household-size boxes of food around the country starting next month to deal with the surplus of meat, milk and produce on the market.

Under the plan, which has hallmarks of Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue’s “Harvest Box” proposal, the boxes would be delivered to food banks and other non-profits and handed directly to needy recipients. Food banks often don’t have refrigeration and are now short of volunteers due to the COVID-19 crisis. Delivering the boxes directly to recipients is a way of dealing with those challenges.

“We’re only going to purchase 100% domestically grown and processed products. … Our goal is to help the American farmer,” Dave Tuckwiller of the Agricultural Marketing Service said on a webinar about the program Tuesday. Some 3,800 people participated in the webinar.

Delivery of boxes will start May 15 and run through the end of the year.

Source: AgriMarketing