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Joan Daleo on USDA Box Program
Joan Daleo on USDA Box Program
00:00:41:19 - 00:01:23:09
Speaker 1
So can you talk about a little bit about how we got involved in that program? Yeah, the after the pandemic and really March 16th was sort of the waterfall date, it became apparent that the United States had a very serious problem related to COVID 19 and possible infections and rampant spread of it. The USDA some time after that, probably in April, began to see the insecurity in the very network of fresh food distribution throughout the country, beginning with farmers who no longer had a marketplace for their goods.
00:01:23:17 - 00:02:02:09
Speaker 1
And this is everything from a regional, local farm all the way really, to national farms who produce for the commercial side of the business. So products that that flow on to the commercial side, not the retail side. The distribution network that was distributing all of that fresh product to restaurants, hotels, institutions, casinos, hospitals, public schools, private schools. I mean, everything within a two or three day period basically came to a complete halt in March.
00:02:02:21 - 00:02:49:28
Speaker 1
And then by law were closed. And so the customer base for the vast majority of fresh food distributors was closed. Every customer went away. And by cascading down went away for every farmer and went away for every distributor. And so you we basically had an entire fresh food network that was in a free for all. And so the USDA put together a credible, dynamic program, and they said, what if we take proposals for those same fresh food distributors that have PACA licenses, that have refrigerated trucks, that have food safety, that have refrigerated warehouses.
00:02:50:29 - 00:03:17:22
Speaker 1
So all the products had to be domestically sourced. And we have them produce fruit boxes that are then distributed throughout the network of organizations, and 501c3, public schools, all of the places where there was food scarcity and food needs. And we have them work in concert with those organizations to distribute the food.
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