The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced plans to invest more than $4 billion to strengthen critical supply chains through their Build Back Better initiative. The new effort will strengthen the food system, create new market opportunities, tackle the climate crisis, help communities that have been left behind, and support good-paying jobs throughout the supply chain.
During a call with ag media Tuesday afternoon, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack discussed how the Initiative will strengthen and transform critical parts of the U.S. food system, specifically the shortage of small meat processing facilities across the country as well as the necessary local and regional food system infrastructure needed to support them.
Through the Build Back Better Initiative, USDA will also seek to increase transparency and competition with attention to how certain types of conduct in the livestock markets and the meat processing sector have resulted in thinly-traded markets and unfair treatment of some farmers, ranchers and small processors.
To learn more click here.