Citing lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and recent supply chain disruptions, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it plans to invest more than $4 billion to strengthen critical supply chains through the Build Back Better initiative. According to the federal agency, the new effort will strengthen the food system, create new market opportunities, tackle the climate crisis, help communities that have been left behind, and support good-paying jobs throughout the supply chain.
Funding is provided by the American Rescue Plan Act and earlier pandemic assistance, such as the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. Also, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was named co-chair of the Administration’s new Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force.
The Task Force will provide a whole government response to address near-term supply chain challenges to the economic recovery. Also, it will convene stakeholders to diagnose problems and surface solutions—large and small, public or private—that could help alleviate bottlenecks and supply constraints related to the economy’s reopening after the Administration’s historic vaccination and economic relief efforts.
USDA will use the $4 billion investment to strengthen the food system, support food production, improved processing, investments in distribution and aggregation, and market opportunities, stated the USDA.
Through the Build Back Better initiative, the USDA will help to ensure the food system of the future is fair, competitive, distributed, and resilient; supports health with access to healthy, affordable food; ensures growers and workers receive a greater share of the food dollar; and advances equity as well as climate resilience and mitigation.
While the Build Back Better initiative addresses near- and long-term issues, recent events have exposed the immediate need for action. With attention to competition and investments in additional small- and medium-sized meat processing capacity, the Build Back Better initiative will spur economic opportunity while increasing resilience and certainty for producers and consumers alike.
“The COVID-19 pandemic led to massive disruption for growers and food workers. It exposed a food system that was rigid, consolidated, and fragile. Meanwhile, those growing, processing, and preparing our food are earning less each year in a system that rewards size over all else,” said Agriculture Secretary Vilsack.
“The Build Back Better initiative will make meaningful investments to build a food system that is more resilient against shocks, delivers greater value to growers and workers, and offers consumers an affordable selection of healthy food produced and sourced locally and regionally by farmers and processors from diverse backgrounds. I am confident USDA’s investments will spur billions more in leveraged funding from the private sector and others as this initiative gains traction across the country. I look forward to getting to work as co-chair of the new Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force and help to mobilize a whole-of-government effort to address the short-term supply challenges our country faces as it recovers,” added the Agriculture Secretary.
The Build Back Better Initiative will strengthen and transform critical parts of the U.S. food system. As it makes investments through this initiative, USDA will also seek to increase transparency and competition with attention to how certain types of conduct in the livestock markets and the meat processing sector have resulted in thinly-traded markets and unfair treatment of some farmers, ranchers, and small processors.
According to the federal agency, among other investments in the food system and food supply chain, Build Back Better will specifically address the shortage of small meat processing facilities across the country and the necessary local and regional food system infrastructure needed to support them.
Funding announcements under the Build Back Better initiative will include a mix of grants, loans, and innovative financing mechanisms for the following priorities, each of which includes mechanisms to tackle the climate crisis and help communities that have been left behind, including:
Source: abasto.com