May 27, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 99 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E492-E493]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             INTRODUCTION OF THE FARM TO FRIDGE ACT OF 2020

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GRACE MENG

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 27, 2020

  Ms. MENG. Madam Speaker, I rise today to announce the introduction of 
my bill--The Farm to Fridge Act of 2020.
  As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants across the country 
have been forced to close--and as a result, many farmers have been 
unable to sell their food. This has dramatically disrupted incomes and 
supply

[[Page E493]]

chains, and resulted in food waste. Meanwhile, families across the 
country are struggling to find new ways to purchase affordable food 
beyond grocery stores as they adhere to social distancing and 
experience disrupted food supplies.
  In the face of COVID-19, farmers are eager to pivot from selling to 
restaurants wholesale to selling direct-to-consumer, but in order to do 
so, they need expensive machinery and marketing funds to make this 
transition. At the same time, merchants need support to expand direct 
producer-to-consumer markets to help communities access locally- and 
regionally-produced agriculture. All the while, consumers are eager to 
purchase food products locally and regionally.
  The Farm to Fridge Act would bridge all these entities by expanding 
two existing programs for efforts to diversify farms' and merchants' 
customer bases: the Value Added Producer Grant program and the Farmers 
Market and Local Food Promotion Program. Both of these programs will 
ultimately inject necessary capital to help both farmers and merchants 
to close gaps in our supply chain, supplement income to farmers, and 
increase food access for families.
  I thank my colleague, Representative Fred Upton, for introducing this 
important, bipartisan measure and urge my colleagues to support it. 
After all, during this coronavirus pandemic, the last thing families 
should worry about is access to food.

                          ____________________