The COVID-19 pandemic created significant supply chain challenges across industries and the world. In the United States, our PBFA members experienced delays in receiving imported ingredients from several countries. This experience, along with watching farmers contend with
crops that they couldn’t harvest or find markets for, cemented for PBFA the urgent need to build resilient domestic supply chains that connect plant-based foods manufacturers with American farmers.
In April, the USDA announced that they were seeking comments on a department-wide effort to “improve and reimagine” U.S. supply chains for the “production, processing and distribution of agricultural commodities and food products.”
At PBFA, we advocate for government policies that allow fair competition while expanding market opportunities for retail, distribution, and foodservice to support the continued growth of the plant-based foods industry. As such, we submitted comments to the USDA to highlight
three key issues:
- New market opportunities to facilitate a food system transformation
- Support for socially disadvantaged and small to mid-sized producers and processors
- Climate benefits of plant-based foods
As stated in our submitted comments, “plant-based foods represent a fast-growing opportunity for U.S. farmers to grow for new domestic markets and corresponding opportunities to support smaller companies, while making essential improvements to the environment.”
We thank the USDA for the opportunity to share our perspective and look forward to working with the agency to establish resilient, diverse, and secure supply chains.