The Farmers to Families Food Box program purchased food directly from farms which would be packed and distributed to families nationwide. | Unsplash/Joel Muniz
The Farmers to Families Food Box program purchased food directly from farms which would be packed and distributed to families nationwide. | Unsplash/Joel Muniz
As economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic led to massive spikes in demand at food banks and overwhelmed the supply chain nationwide, the Farmers to Families program was overall successful despite a scattershot approach to distribution.
"We actually had individuals calling our office and warehouse saying they couldn't buy food at the grocery stores," Lance Cusumano, co-owner of Mt. Vernon's food distribution company Cusumano & Sons, said, the Daily Egyptian reported. "That's usually something in our line as a wholesaler that sells to other wholesalers, grocery stores and restaurants that you don't hear."
The pandemic exposed weaknesses in the food supply chain as distribution could not keep up with sudden massive demand.
COVID-19 created food shortages nationally.
| Stock Photo
Some organizations, including Cusumano & Sons, tried to take action to meet the needs of the community. The company sold reduced-cost produce boxes directly to customers.
On April 17, the USDA launched the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), in which Farmers to Families Food Box program was included. The CFAP purchased tens of millions of tons of food from farms that were directly packed and distributed to families nationwide.
Cusumano was already distributing produce boxes, so it co-organized a bid with Vermillion Valley Produce to ship to central and southern Illinois.
The United Way of South Central Illinois helped Cusumano connect with local churches, nonprofits and social service groups to distribute food orders to the community.
Distributors, food banks, pantries and a makeshift group of volunteers and nonprofit workers often had to develop solutions to distribute the massive amount of food on the fly.
The program was effective, but not everything went smoothly. Communication misunderstandings were common, and many delivery sites, including schools, nonprofits, social service groups, didn't have the necessary facilities to accept and store massive amounts of food.
Despite setbacks, the program has been an overall success and has delivered over 132 million food boxes nationwide. The Farmers to Families program has received four rounds of renewed funding and started a fifth since its official start in mid-May.
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