The USDA awarded on December 21 nearly $15 million in contracts to 23 produce companies for the latest round of The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) produce box program.
USDA ordered 2,138,171 mixed produce boxes for a total of $14,936,490 to be distributed by contract winners from January 1, 2022 to July 15, 2022. The per-box prices ranged from $5.68 to $46.
A USDA spokesperson said another TEFAP Fresh Produce Package solicitation is scheduled to be issued before the end of the 2022 fiscal year, which began October 1, 2021, and will end September 30, 2022.
Last month, USDA issued a solicitation for just over 2 million boxes.
The current round, which runs from the beginning of October to the end of December, pays $3.4 million for 436,000 boxes.
The 2022 round of contracts range from as small as $7,400 to as large as $6.6 million.
The following companies received contracts in this first half of 2022 round (Company, location, number of boxes, contract amount):
Aggrigator, Inc., Watsonville, CA; 206,127; $1,556,030
Capital City Fruit Co., Inc., Norwalk, IA; 13,800; $123,648
Class Produce Group, LLC, Jessup, MD; 12,300; $89,175
DNO, Inc., Columbus, OH; 1,000; $7,400
E.K.K. Investments, LLC, Vernon, CA; 1,500; $45,000
Farm Cut, LLC, Plant City, FL; 963,271; $6,592,997
First Cut Produce, Inc., Evanston, IL; 32,533; $330,373
Foster-Caviness Co., Inc., Greensboro, NC; 12,700; $87,376
The Fresh Group, Ltd., Milwaukee, WI; 1,200; $10,200
Fresh Innovations California, LLC, Stockton, CA; 19,800; $150,330
Gargiulo, Frank, & Son, Inc., Hillside, NJ; 3,000; $22,380
Global Harvest Produce, LLC, East Rutherford, NJ; 2,400; $19,800
Ham Produce & Seafood, Inc., Honolulu, HI; 10,076; $134,432
Heartland Produce Co., Kenosha, WI; 1,800; $20,862
Liberty Fruit Co., Inc., Kansas City, KS; 8,200; $68,970
Palazola, M., Produce Co., Memphis, TN; 161,156; $1,089,138
Premier Produce One, Inc., Dayton, OH; 67,669; $442,060
Proffer Wholesale Produce, Inc., Park Hills, MO; 186,877; $1,231,416
Rancho De Santa Fe, Velarde, NM; 1,800; $35,064
RJB Produce, Inc., Visalia, CA; 9,394; $288,570
Seashore Fruit & Produce Co., Inc., Vineland, NJ; 28,286; $196,851
Sunterra Produce Traders, Inc., Newport Beach, CA; 389,282; $2,364,814
Wiers Farm, Inc., Willard, OH; 4,000; $29,600
