Helping Shrimpers, Deliveries Could Begin in January
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced this week that it plans to add U.S. wild-caught, peeled and deveined shrimp to the FY27 Foods Available List for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), the program that supplies commodities to food banks and pantries around the country. According to USDA, deliveries could begin as soon as January.
The announcement is celebrated by American shrimpers, a milestone that the Southern Shrimp Alliance has been supporting for years.
“Adding U.S. wild-caught shrimp to the TEFAP Foods Available List is a win-win. USDA is enabling taxpayer dollars to be reinvested in sustainable, American Mom-and-Pop shrimping businesses, while providing a nutritious, clean protein to those in need,” said Blake Price, Executive Director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “We are thankful for the USDA’s actions and the support of state and federal officials to increase government purchases of domestic shrimp, providing a new market to shrimpers harmed by unfair trade. Most don’t realize that the wholesale price of shrimp is identical–without inflation adjustment–to 1970s prices.”
Working with the USDA’s New Office of Seafood
In May, SSA board members met with Mike Illenberg, Director of the newly created USDA Office of Seafood, to make the case for adding domestic shrimp to TEFAP for fiscal year 2027. American shrimpers in that meeting walked through the practical, on-the-water impact of previous USDA’s Section 32 purchases. When USDA commits to buy a significant volume of U.S. shrimp, shrimpers can absorb the upfront costs of fuel, ice, and food with confidence that a market for their shrimp exists when they return. Fishermen told USDA that these purchases have translated directly into economic security to keep working, providing real support for the family businesses and coastal communities built around the shrimp fishery.
Adding shrimp to the TEFAP Foods Available List facilitates Section 32 purchases of shrimp that fishermen will be landing during this season. It also, once again, makes available wholesome, nutritious, and delicious U.S. wild-caught shrimp through a food assistance system that feeds American families in need.
Part of a Broader, Bipartisan Advocacy
This announcement follows months of sustained advocacy from shrimping states and their elected officials. In January, Representative Clay Higgins (R-LA) wrote to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins urging continued Section 32 Commodity Procurement authority to purchase U.S. wild-caught shrimp. In May, the Louisiana House of Representatives adopted House Resolution No. 205 by a unanimous 92-0 vote, formally urging USDA to use Section 32 to purchase domestic shrimp from Louisiana shrimpers.
Since 2020, the USDA has made purchases of domestic warmwater wild-caught shrimp in five of the last six fiscal years, totaling over $126 million, providing needed support as shrimpers face mounting pressure from unfairly traded imports that account for more than 90% of the market.
Sell Food to USDA
Want to sell seafood to USDA? Start here: https://www.ams.usda.gov/selling-food.
Learn more about USDA programs available to U.S. commercial fishermen at https://www.usda.gov/seafood. SSA has highlighted some of these programs available to shrimpers from North Carolina to Texas at https://shrimpalliance.com/usda-programs/