The Southern Shrimp Alliance encourages shrimpers to take advantage of USDA programs designed to support U.S. shrimpers and provide a safe and nutritious protein source for schools, low-income Americans, and disaster relief.
Section 32 Purchases
On Thursday, the USDA solicited bids for the purchase of a variety of fish and fishery products, including catfish, Alaska pollock, and shrimp. The USDA expressed an intention to purchase 232,500 cases of various forms of peeled and deveined American-produced shrimp of various sizes for use in domestic programs. Bids are due February 27, 2025 by 1:00 PM, Central Time. Questions regarding this procurement should be directed to: Chyra.Lewis@USDA.gov
The procurement of shrimp is done under Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which purchases exclusively domestic products. Imported shrimp is excluded from the Section 32 program. Since 2020, the USDA has made five rounds of purchases of U.S. shrimp, totaling 1.14M cases, through Section 32 funding, supported by SSA’s advocacy and requests for funding.
Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program
Late last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) invested $1.13 billion to purchase wholesome, locally produced foods for emergency food providers, schools, and child care centers. The new funding builds upon the Department’s previous investments in the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA) and Local Food for Schools (LFS) programs.
The U.S. shrimp industry can take advantage of the up to $471.5 million allocated to purchase local, unprocessed, or minimally processed domestic foods for use by schools participating in the National School Lunch and/or School Breakfast Programs, and up to $188.6 million for use in child care facilities participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
“Glynn County Schools is using the LFPA program to support Georgia shrimpers, opening a new market specifically for U.S. wild-caught shrimp. It has been a great experience for my company, and I encourage others to get involved,” said John Wallace, an SSA Board Member from Georgia and owner of Anchored Shrimp Company.
Those wishing to participate in this round of LFPA can visit the LFPA website.
Those interested in applying for this round of LFS, which now includes funding for child care centers, can visit the LFS website.
Producers wishing to receive information about becoming a vendor for LFPA or for LFS should contact their respective state. Learn more https://www.ams.usda.gov/selling-food-to-usda/lfs
What’s Next?
In November 2022, the GAO issued a report – National School Lunch Program: USDA Could Enhance Assistance to States and Schools in Providing Seafood to Students – explaining that seafood accounted for only 1.5 percent of the animal protein purchases through the USDA’s National School Lunch Program. The GAO emphasized that although federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommended that school-age children should consume between four and ten ounces of seafood per week, the USDA’s National School Lunch Program purchased seafood sufficient to feed students an average of three ounces per year.
As Andrew Ropicki of Florida Sea Grant has persuasively argued:
“Including shrimp in the NSLP would increase seafood in student diets and bolster one of America’s largest fisheries. Shrimp is by far the most consumed seafood type in the U.S. and accounts for 29% of total U.S. seafood consumption, and school-age children are likely to be familiar with and willing to eat shrimp through the NSLP. Introducing shrimp into the NSLP could improve the willingness of administrators to try adding other seafood options to school lunches and make children more willing to try other types of seafood both at school and at home.
Furthermore, including U.S. wild-caught shrimp in the NSLP would provide another potential market for the fishery. The U.S. shrimp fishery is one of the five largest commercial fisheries in the U.S.; however, cheaper imported shrimp has negatively impacted the fishery and the coastal communities that rely on the fishery. If the percentage of NSLP animal protein source purchases from seafood increased from 1.5% to 15%, and just half of the increased purchases were U.S. wild-caught shrimp, the USDA would buy 27.9 million more pounds – or 10% of all shrimp landed in the U.S. in 2020. This type of change to the NSLP would increase student consumption of nutritious high-quality seafood as recommended by the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans and benefit U.S. fishermen and coastal communities.”
Some progress is being made. Collaborations between the states, school systems, and local farmers/fishermen have established many new supply-chain partnerships and SSA continues to advocate for new appropriations to support Section 32 and National School Lunch program purchases. On this front, we are seeing support from Congress. Former Representatives Garret Graves (R-LA) and Jerry L. Carl (R-AL) sent a letter requesting that the U.S. Department of Agriculture continue to purchase wild-caught shrimp in 2022.
The recently re-introduced LESS Act bill, championed by Representative Clay Higgins (R-LA), would make a permanent appropriation of an amount equivalent to 70% of duties collected on shrimp imports and spend 50% of those funds on USDA Section 32 purchases of domestic shrimp. The other 50% would be directed to increase FDA testing of shrimp imports.
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) included additional Section 32 funding in the Senate FY 25 Ag Appropriations Committee Report on behalf of the U.S. shrimp industry in response to SSA’s request. The Committee Report contains further funding for the National School Lunch program. These purchases help to relieve the backup in shrimp inventories that has contributed to the current financial crisis facing the U.S. shrimp industry.
“Domestic, wild-caught shrimp are a healthy and sustainable source of protein, packing in omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients that support brain health. Supporting programs that purchase U.S. shrimp for schools is a win for students, shrimpers, and our coastal communities,” said John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “We are grateful for the leadership of Senator Cornyn and Representatives Higgins, Graves, and former Representative Carl for working to secure USDA funding for purchases of domestic shrimp.”
Learn more about SSA’s work with USDA:
- Southern Shrimp Alliance Celebrates the Introduction of the LESS Act
- Southern Shrimp Alliance Sends Letter to President in Support of Rep. Graves’s and former Rep. Carl’s Request to USDA for Additional Section 32 Purchases of Shrimp
- SSA Supports USDA Purchases of Seafood
Edited 2/17 @ 6:00 to note that Representative Graves is a former Representative.