Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack plans to focus on nutrition security during his term.
He told reporters that the government spends more on diet-chronic diseases than the entire USDA budget. He sees the Farmers-to-Families Food Box program as one way to help expand access to healthy foods and nutrition education, while also addressing food insecurity for low income individuals.
“I think we have to address this not just from a food insecurity perspective, but also a nutrition insecurity perspective, and to the the extent that a food box program and other programs that USDA could be potentially supporting to encourage and enhance the capacity of people to have access to nutritious, healthy food,” Vilsack states. “That’s something we obviously need to think about and continue looking at.”
USDA is currently in the process of reviewing the program, but plans to let it continue through at least April while deciding how to make it more cost effective and fair.