WSDA Continues To Work To Help Washingtonians Facing Food Insecurity

While the Washington State Department of Agriculture has long provided food assistance programs, once the pandemic hit, WSDA had to take new and sometimes innovative steps to meet a rapid increase in food insecurity. Hector Castro said an estimated 2.2 million people in Washington are currently food insecure. Part of WSDA's efforts include not only securing resources for food banks across the state, but also establishing a strategic reserve of food to mitigate ongoing supply chain disruptions. Such efforts have required several different pilot programs.

"Obviously there is this great need for food," Castro noted. "But also farms, and small farms in particular, have lost a lot of their traditional customers as a result of the pandemic and some of the closures of some of the businesses that they would normally be selling to. So there was a pilot program to work with farms in providing fresh produce that would go to food pantries."

WSDA has raised more than $85 million to fill gaps in Washington's food supply network, and those funds provided a lot more than just food to local food banks.

"For example, one thing is that a lot of them rely primarily on volunteers," he continued. "Well, when the pandemic hit a lot of that volunteer force was unable to participate either because they were part of a vulnerable population or for other reasons. So there were labor issues."

Castro added that the National Guard has been a big help in filling that labor gap. WSDA has also had to help procure equipment as well, such as PPE, pallet jacks, coolers and refrigerators, and even boxes. Ultimately, Castro believes these efforts are likely to continue going forward, with the entire food assistance network in the state seeing a greater need for several months to come.​

He added many Ag industries also have also provided additional assistance during the pandemic, such as Washington Dairy's 'Dairy Month' in June, and Washington Beef's 'Beef Counts',

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