American Rescue Plan

Earlier this week, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture announced an investment of nearly $10 million through the Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program.  The funding, made possible through the American Rescue Plan Act, bolsters USDA’s food and nutrition security efforts.  Specifically, the f...

USDA and the state of Washington have announced a cooperative agreement to purchase local foods.  Under the agreement signed with AMS, the Washington State Department of Agriculture will purchase and distributed locally grown and/or processed food from underserved producers.  Th...

A deadline extension has been granted for applications for the USDA's Meats & Poultry Processing Expansion program. " program uses $150-million in funding provided by the American Rescue Plan Act and will help provide more and better processing options to producers as soon as possible," said Rural Develop Rural Business Cooperative Service Administrator Karama Neal. ...

New investments are designed to give local and regional food producers more opportunities to sell their goods locally, to hospitals, universities and government outlets. "This means that roughly $97 million will now be available for a variety of opportunities to create a strong local and regional food system," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack ...

On Tuesday, the USDA announced supplemental American Rescue Plan Act funding for the Local Agriculture Market Program. The program will receive a total of $130 million in supplemental funding from American Rescue Plan Act. The funding seeks to promote competition and create more and better markets for local and regional food producers by expanding and strengthening opportunities to sell to insti

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Wednesday announced the final Strategic Framework outlining how the Agency will advance surveillance of SARS-CoV-2. USDA says early detection and response to pathogens with zoonotic potential while still in animals is essential in limiting or preventing human outbreaks. Addi ...

"The pandemic exposed a number of weakness in our food supply chain and need for more support for expanded processing," noted Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack when he recently announced the latest in a series of financial commitments to help strengthen the midpoints of the food chain ...

On Thursday, the CDC extended the moratorium on evictions of Americans who live in multifamily housing communities supported by the Department of Agriculture. The extension grants the moratorium through July 31, 2021. USDA Rural Development undersecretary Justin Maxson said the action gives tenants at USDA-supported properties “essential relief while the Department extends the emergency rental ass

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty last week filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the alleged race discrimination in the American Rescue Plan. Specifically, the organization targets a provision to offer loan forgiveness based on racial categories ...

Participants in WIC may soon see a temporary increase to their benefits. The increase will apply to the purchase of fruits and vegetables. With $490 million provided by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, USDA has offered the option of boosting the cash-value voucher benefit by more than three times the current amount for up to four months to provide additional relief during the pandemic ... R