The $2.7 billion Farmers to Families Food Box Program initiated in May has come under intense criticism for inefficiency and inequity. Although it is acknowledged that the program was established in an emergency, there was evidently lack of planning and defective execution by the USDA, especially with regard to accepting bids from unqualified distributors, an overt lack of physical and financial control and failure to recognize and respond to emerging problems.  Many of the contractors selected were either unable or disinclined to deliver boxes to remote regions with a high proportion of needy citizens.  It took until September for USDA to recognize that there were serious inconsistencies in distribution leading to the designation of Opportunity Zones to receive special attention.

While the USDA was implementing the first phase of the program, the need for supplemental food assistance became greater as the economic effect of COVID-19 intensified especially in low-income areas of our nation. Many of the operators of food banks and faith-based organizations complained of the quality of food provided.  The discrepancy between what was delivered and prevailing prices suggested that there was both inefficiency and over charging in both states and territories including Alaska, Puerto Rico and Maine.

The entire program was unnecessary as the objective of feeding could have been achieved by simply increasing appropriations and lifting barriers to enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Alternatively by providing block grants, food banks would have been able to buy food and vegetables directly from farmers within their own areas of operation.  This would have shifted the benefits to farmers rather than contract distributors serving as middlemen.

The USDA failed to recognize the importance of free school meals to children subjected to food insecurity concurrent with the progress of COVID-19 during the second and third quarters.  It was only in August that the USDA announced that schools could continue serving free meals throughout the end of 2020 subject to availability of funding.

A justifiable criticism of the program was that politically fliers were included in boxes, an action considered to be inconsistent with a humanitarian program.