USDA Announced that it is investing $25 million in efforts to prevent and reduce food loss and waste as part of a joint agency initiative between USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist (OCE).
The funding includes $4.3 million for the Community Food Projects (CFP) Competitive Grants Program to reduce food loss and waste, get surplus wholesome food to individuals, and develop linkages between food producers, providers, and food recovery organizations. The funds will also support NIFA’s Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program (FASLP) grants for food loss and waste reduction on school grounds to engage in and scale up efforts that increase capacity for students to learn how to prevent food waste, change the school environment, and use cafeterias and other parts of school grounds as classrooms. Remaining funds will support forthcoming food loss and waste efforts in collaboration with the National 4-H Council and the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program.
