Does not matter: USDA food boxes MIA in San Antonio

May 28, 2020

With help from Ryan McCrimmon and Ximena Bustillo

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Quick Fix

— The Agriculture Department's new food box program aimed at connecting surplus foods with people in need is facing serious problems in the Southwest.

— Senate Ag Democrats unveiled a bill to help address some of the supply chain disruptions caused by Covid-19.

— The European Union is mulling a requirement to include stricter forest protections in future trade deals.

HAPPY THURSDAY, MAY 28! Welcome to Morning Ag, where your host is thrilled to report that we won a James Beard Award for our package of stories on the federal government's lack of investment in nutrition research. You can read those pieces here and here. Send tips to hbottemiller@politico.com and @hbottemiller, and follow us @Morning_Ag.

Driving the Day

USDA FOOD BOXES MIA IN SAN ANTONIO: It's been more than a month since an aerial photo of thousands of cars waiting in line for food in a San Antonio parking lot went viral — a gut-wrenching sign of the huge need amid economic fallout from Covid-19. But USDA's new Farmers to Families Food Box program has yet to come through for that hard-hit community, report yours truly and Pro Ag's Ryan McCrimmon.

The San Antonio Food Bank has not received a single box from CRE8AD8 (pronounced "create a date"), the embattled event planner that received a massive $39 million USDA contract in its own backyard. The food bank says it's currently getting about 10 percent of what it expected from the program, all from smaller contractors.

Regional questions: Nonprofits across the Southwest region that CRE8AD8 is supposed to be serving have yet to receive the hundreds of thousands of boxes they were expecting. St. Mary's Food Bank in Arizona, one of the largest in the country, has also not received any boxes from the Texas contractor. The food bank said it's seen only a fraction of what it was hoping to get from the program.

Coming soon? CRE8AD8 told the San Antonio Food Bank that deliveries will begin June 1.

"I need the food," said Eric Cooper, CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank. "We're seeing a 100 percent increase in demand. We went from feeding 60,000 people a week to 120,000."

High need: Before Covid-19, San Antonio was already among the neediest communities in the nation. The majority Latino city has the highest poverty rate of the largest metro areas in the U.S., according to recent U.S. Census Bureau data.

USDA taking a look: USDA officials held a call with the San Antonio food bank this week to discuss the situation, but it's unclear if action will be taken. "USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service constantly reviews the performance of the contracts awarded and USDA could choose to continue or terminate the contracts for the government's convenience," a spokesperson said.

Success elsewhere in the country: The fledgling food box program is working well for many nonprofits and food banks serving food to people in need. Of the roughly dozen major food banks POLITICO contacted, nearly all reported that they had begun receiving boxes, though many deliveries are starting behind schedule.

A five-mile long line in Vermont: The Vermont Foodbank got its food box program up and running quickly and it's been wildly popular. On the first day, the food bank had nearly 2,000 cars lined up for five miles to pick up the boxes and ran out within a few hours. This week, when the food bank distributed in Burlington, Vt., people started lining up at 4 a.m.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Wednesday touted the new program at a fairground in Pennsylvania. More on that event from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

CRITICAL COROAVIRUS NEWS & ANALYSIS, NIGHTLY: The federal government is slowly coming back to work. Democrats want a lot more federal assistance, but Republicans aren't there yet. Some retailers are ending hazard pay. Sports leagues are figuring out what comes next and how. For critical Covid-19 insight, context and analysis from experts across our global newsroom choose POLITICO Nightly. Subscribe today.

STABENOW ROLLS OUT BILL AIMED AT SUPPLY CHAIN WOES: Democrats on the Senate Agriculture Committee — as well as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — released a new bill on Wednesday with the outlines of some of what they'd like to see in the next Covid aid package.

"The COVID-19 crisis has tested the strength of our nation's food supply chain, creating a ripple effect that's harming our families, farmers and workers," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, in a statement.

The Food Supply Protection Act would provide $5.5 billion in grants, loans and loan guarantees to help small- and medium-sized companies shift their operations to respond to Covid, including procuring more personal protective equipment and testing.

"This funding will assist farmers and small and medium-sized food processors in protecting their workers and help them cater to new markets so they can continue operations and alleviate bottlenecks in the supply chain," Stabenow's office said in a statement.

Expanding anti-hunger response: The legislation also seeks $1 billion for grants to help food banks and other nonprofits boost their capacity to handle food and $1.5 billion for more surplus food purchases, including a new clearinghouse to help connect excess products with groups that need it.

Covid-19 has triggered an abundance of disparate, rapidly changing policies at the federal and state levels. Stay up-to-speed with our Covid-19 Coverage Roundup, a daily summary of top Covid-19 news and analysis from across POLITICO Pro's policy coverage teams. We're also sharing premium content related to Covid-19 here. To receive the roundup directly to your inbox every weekday afternoon, please sign up on your settings page.

Trade Corner

EUROPE EYES FOREST SAFEGUARDS IN TRADE DEALS: The European Parliament's ag committee voted this week to support stricter deforestation regulations in current and future EU trade deals, per POLITICO Europe's Arthur Neslen.

The draft opinion calls for "binding and enforceable environmental and social provisions to be included in free trade agreements" to protect forests, natural ecosystems and human rights. Current deals that don't include such provisions should be reopened, the document says, specifically calling out the EU's agreement with the South American Mercosur bloc.

Attention China watchers: America's relationship with China continues to have major implications for U.S. agriculture. Stay in the loop with the new China newsletter from POLITICO's David Wertime launching today.

Trade Corner

— The FDA recently loosened labeling rules for food manufacturers for the fifth time during the pandemic. While the changes are supposed to temporarily ease supply chain disruptions, advocates worry they will put at risk those with food allergies and create other problems if they become permanent. More from The Washington Post.

— Oregon Gov. Kate Brown directed that a million masks and thousands of gallons of hand sanitizer be distributed to farmworkers and agricultural producers across the state, but there's still more need.

— The New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association on Tuesday asked a federal court to issue a preliminary injunction against parts of the Trump administration's new navigable waters rule, DTN reports.

— The 2019 corn crop yielded Minnistota's sixth-largest harvest of all time. USDA now projects a record harvest in 2020. However, demand is not keeping up with the growing supply, The Star Tribute reports.

— Nationwide panic of murder hornets has resulted in an increase in online searches for insecticides and hornet traps. Epidologoists fear the unintended consequence will be the death of millions of native insects, including bees. The Washington Post has more.

— The Atlantic has a fascinating deep-dive into USDA's decades-long battle against flesh-eating screwworms that pose a danger to cattle and other animals.

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