Merced area food distributors worry about program’s future, impact on families in need
Following weeks of uncertainty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Friday that its Farmers to Families Food Box Program will continue through December for a fourth round of crucial deliveries.
Around Merced County, local food bank and pantry distributors breathed a collective sigh of relief.
“We know we’re getting boxes now until the end of the year,” said Merced County Food Bank Executive Director Bill Gibbs. “We didn’t know that yesterday.”
The Merced County Food Bank and smaller food pantries throughout the county have bulked up their service with increased boxes through the Farmers to Families program since the first round of deliveries began in May.
The USDA escalated food distribution earlier this year to address the food supply chain disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic, coupled with the abrupt spike in American families in need due to COVID-19-caused job loss.
The $4 billion initiative is part of the federal Coronavirus Food Assistance Program and has delivered over 110 million family-sized food boxes nationwide so far, according to the USDA. The federal program contracts with food distribution vendors to deliver fresh produce, meat and dairy boxes to food banks, community and faith-based groups and nonprofits.
The program is phased into months, with vendor contracts chosen each round. Regional organizations receiving the boxes from vendors then distribute the food to families in need.
In Merced County, thousands of families in need benefit from the program every week.
“We do really need it at a time like this, and any other time, because we’re an extremely food insecure and impoverished county,” Gibbs said.
The most recent U.S. Census Bureau data estimates that more than 20% of Merced County residents live in poverty compared to the statewide average of 11.8%.
When the pandemic’s economic impact hit in earnest in April, Merced County rocketed from record low joblessness to the highest monthly figure in years at nearly 19% unemployment. The March to April spike was the largest on record. As of September, unemployment was still high at 10.6% -- nearly double September of 2019’s 5.8% rate.
Demand for food increases
Gibbs said the Merced County Food Bank saw a year-over demand increase of 200% during spring. Recently, it’s risen to 300-400% growth.
The resurgence in need is likely correlated to seasonal job loss, Gibbs said. In the agricultural hub that is Merced County, workers lose seasonal jobs to the colder months, meaning more people rely on donated food in fall and winter. Meanwhile, many individuals are still out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gibbs said.
Farmers to Families phases one through three helped feed Merced County May 15 through Oct. 31. But the question of whether a fourth phase would carry the hungry through winter — when need is the highest — left local food provider wondering until Friday.
The newly announced $500 million fourth round is set to run Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, a USDA news release said.
Uncertainty persists
Rev. Ella Luna-Garza, a pastor at United Methodist Church of Merced who also oversees the church’s food pantry, said the news was good but still just a “Band-Aid.”
With the fourth round of food box deliveries slated to cease at the end of the year, Luna-Garza and Gibbs are both wondering what will happen in January, as COVID-19-related challenges persist.
“It’s winter, it’s the hardest time,” Luna-Garza said. “Most of our migrant workers are out of work.”
Compounding the uncertainty is the upcoming presidential election, plus the limited availability of federal funds, Gibbs said.
It is unclear whether the program would be a fiscal priority of either a new or reelected president. That means the future of Farmers to Families, or a similar program, will again be unknown come the new year.
Luna-Garza recently got a “terrifying” glimpse at the tough calls she would have to make if the church stopped receiving Farmers to Families food boxes.
When round three vendor contracts were announced in September, the USDA didn’t renew the contract for Ag Link, a local Ballico-based vendor that had served Merced County during rounds one and two, distributing at least 500,000 boxes to regional food banks and pantries to be distributed to families.
“We were, of course, very disappointed to tell our receivers,” said Ag Link CEO Jana Nairn. Ag Link referred the local pantries to the new vendors, and wished them the best of luck.
For about a week, Luna-Garza said she didn’t know where boxes would be coming from, or if they would come in time for the pantry’s weekly distribution. She placed dozens of calls to local city council and Board of Supervisors members, as plus Assemblymember Adam Gray, Senator Anna Caballero and Congressman Jim Costa.
“I was calling everybody, and their dog,” she said.
Families from cities and unincorporated regions throughout the community rely on the church’s pantry to eat. If the program stopped, the church would be left with only its far smaller supply of community donated provisions. Luna-Garza said she ultimately would have to choose to feed her city first.
Finally though, she received news that Bay Area-based Daylight Foods, Inc. was stepping in to fill Ag Link’s former role.
Logistics complicated
USDA-awarded contracts in California in September shifted from the dozens of different vendors serving localized areas in rounds one and two to just five larger vendors statewide, like the giant multinational Sysco Corporation.
“We feel like it’s unfortunate, because it really changes the tune of the program,” Nairn said. “We were really proud of what we were putting in our boxes,” she added. Nairn noted that the high-quality local goods weren’t the cheapest, and that may have been why their contract wasn’t renewed.
Before the contracts changed in round three, the program made a point of vendors assuming the burden of box delivery to each regional food pantry, Nairn said. Smaller parcels were distributed to pantries without large refrigerators, like United Methodist Church.
The bigger vendors selected in round three deliver boxes that are about twice in size. While the boxes provide a combination of food better suited for a meal, they have decreased in terms of local quality, Gibbs said. Plus, the bigger boxes complicate distribution logistics.
Smaller pantries with smaller refrigerators now must either come to the Merced County Food Bank and get boxes parsed out from its giant refrigerator, or the food bank must deliver boxes to its regional pantry partners itself.
“We liked having Ag Link as a partner, it made things less difficult for us,” Gibbs said.
With the USDA expected to award vendor contracts for the fourth round on Oct. 30, more distribution changes could take place.
Even with the larger Daylight Foods shipments, Luna-Garza for the first time recently had to turn people away from the church’s pantry. Thousands of boxes are handed out to hundreds of vehicles each Thursday for the 12 p.m. drive-through distribution. During the past couple weeks, boxes have run out hours earlier than expected.
“The systems that were stressed before are now crazy stretched, and we haven’t even made it to winter,” Luna-Garza said.
This story was originally published October 27, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
