U.S. Department of Agriculture is offering $215 million to enhance the nation's food supply chain as an investment in rural America, the department's secretary said in a Feb. 24 news release.
With the investment, grants and other support intended to, among other things, expand the nation's meat and poultry processing options, farmers and ranchers should have an easier time getting their products to market, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said.
"For too long, ranchers and processors have seen the value and the opportunities they work so hard to create move away from the rural communities where they live and operate," Vilsack said. "Under the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Harris, USDA is committed to making investments to support economic systems where the wealth created in rural areas stays in rural areas. The funding we're announcing today ultimately will help us give farmers and ranchers a fair shake and strengthen supply chains while developing options to deliver food produced closer to home for families."
The funding, also expected to create jobs and economic opportunities in rural areas, was announced on the one-year anniversary of President Biden's Executive Order 14017, regarding America's supply chains. The funding is only one of USDA many actions "to expand processing capacity and increase competition in meat and poultry processing to make agricultural markets more accessible, fair, competitive and resilient for American farmers and ranchers," the news release said.
About $150 million will be spent on USDA's Rural Development projects to start and expand meat and poultry processing activities. Another $40 million has been earmarked for USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture for workforce development and training. The Agricultural Marketing Service has $25 million to spend on technical assistance for grant applicants and others who need resources in meat and poultry processing.
"These new opportunities are part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic commitment to fight monopolization and promote competition across the economy," the news release said. "They are also aligned with USDA's vision of a food system that supports health and ensures producers receive a fair share of the food dollar while advancing equity and combating the climate crisis."
The department's one-year supply chain report, published the same day as the news release, includes the announced funding as part of its assessment of opportunities USDA and other federal agencies, as well as Congress, have made. The opportunities, over the long-term, are intended to infuse stability, diversify and expand infrastructure and markets, improve equity and transform the nation's food system.
