PDA signs $10M contract that will benefit farmers and hungry Pennsylvanians

State Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding announced a $10 million contract with Feeding Pennsylvania to funnel surplus agriculture products from state producers to nonprofit hunger relief agencies to provide fresh, local foods to Pennsylvanians in need.

“If there’s anything worse than the waste of fresh, local food and the labor of love from Pennsylvania farmers, it’s the hunger that more than 2 million Pennsylvanians are facing every day as we fight COVID-19,” said Redding, during a visit to Warwick Township-based Sauder’s Eggs on Aug. 13.

The $10 million in relief will aid both Pennsylvania farmers who have lost markets and state residents who face food insecurity due to the pandemic, Redding said.

The department’s Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System (PASS) program helps support Pennsylvania’s agriculture industry in all 67 counties and reduce waste of agricultural surplus by making connections between production agriculture and the nonprofit sector.

First funded in 2016, the PASS program now receives $1.5 million in state funds annually and this year was awarded an additional $10 million – $5 million for dairy-only purchases and $5 million to split among a variety of products such as fruit, vegetables, meat and eggs – with funds from the state’s federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act allocation.

The funding will be used over the course of the next four months to purchase excess product from Pennsylvania farmers and distribute them in all 67 counties through 13 partners of Lower Paxton Township-based Feeding Pennsylvania and the Hunger-Free Pennsylvania network of food banks.