USDA buying $42M of catfish

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has purchased $42M of catfish products - from catfish-producing states including Mississippi - for distribution to various nutrition assistance programs and charitable institutions. Five members of Mississippi’s congressional delegation, along with five others from another state, sent a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to make the purchase. The letter requested Vilsack to use “Section 32,” a permanently authorized program, to make emergency purchases of surplus commodities (MS catfish) for distribution to domestic food assistance programs. Section 32 purchases assist catfish producers with reducing the risk of financial insecurity resulting from climbing inventories and increases in feed costs. (SuperTalk Mississippi 01/26/23)

USDA partners with Mississippi tribe: WASHINGTON -The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced Jan. 26 it has signed a cooperative agreement with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (MBCI) under the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA). Through LFPA, the tribe seeks to purchase and distribute locally grown, produced, and processed food from underserved producers. The partnership will promote economic opportunities for farmers and producers and to increase access to locally sourced nutritious food in underserved communities, says USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt. It also will improve agricultural supply-chain resiliency. MBCI will contract with Choctaw Fresh Produce (CFP) to purchase fresh produce and have it distributed among the tribe’s underserved communities. (USDA 01/26/23)