{"id":4873,"date":"2025-12-15T19:42:46","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T00:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/?p=4873"},"modified":"2025-12-15T19:58:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T00:58:51","slug":"introducing-the-effective-food-procurement-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/news\/introducing-the-effective-food-procurement-act\/","title":{"rendered":"[Re]-Introducing the EFFECTIVE Food Procurement Act"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<section class=\"normal_content bg-white padding-top-small padding-bottom-large\" style=\"\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"row center-md\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-md-7\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"content-styled\"><p><em><strong>Update: December 15, 2025:<\/strong> Today, Senator Markey and Congresswoman Adams reintroduced the EFFECTIVE Food Procurement Act in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div><em>Some useful links on the updated bill:<\/em><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markey.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/sen-markey-rep-alma-adams-reintroduce-legislation-to-better-use-usdas-food-purchasing-dollars-to-support-a-resilient-and-healthy-food-system\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.markey.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/sen-markey-rep-alma-adams-reintroduce-legislation-to-better-use-usdas-food-purchasing-dollars-to-support-a-resilient-and-healthy-food-system&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1765930208644000&amp;usg=AOvVaw04ifLhJbLZCqjlT8i9zZzP\">Sen. Markey press release<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/adams.house.gov\/media-center\/press-releases\/adams-markey-announce-bill-build-healthier-and-more-sustainable-food\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/adams.house.gov\/media-center\/press-releases\/adams-markey-announce-bill-build-healthier-and-more-sustainable-food&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1765930208644000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1ESh4E5h7UrBBaEKF08TRI\">Rep. Adams press release<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/urldefense.com\/v3\/__https:\/foe-my.sharepoint.com\/:b:\/g\/personal\/lgonzalez_foe_org\/EWkLL8jMJwZLpC4tMSJfoFYBF3SLs66lG9LwdSg9-T52Gg?e=zckw6D__;!!IIed8l2J2Mno!Z_fKSCviW0VxmaO8G8pnWV9adkSkgEPoAfkaI_M17nCNbf3pG-ABQKnpRaEzCISPWhJcO7K9CMsRTyC2fVDO$\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/urldefense.com\/v3\/__https:\/foe-my.sharepoint.com\/:b:\/g\/personal\/lgonzalez_foe_org\/EWkLL8jMJwZLpC4tMSJfoFYBF3SLs66lG9LwdSg9-T52Gg?e%3Dzckw6D__;!!IIed8l2J2Mno!Z_fKSCviW0VxmaO8G8pnWV9adkSkgEPoAfkaI_M17nCNbf3pG-ABQKnpRaEzCISPWhJcO7K9CMsRTyC2fVDO$&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1765930208644000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0yVuMZTmlc1xgxL8B6SxSG\">Bill text<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/urldefense.com\/v3\/__https:\/foe-my.sharepoint.com\/:b:\/g\/personal\/lgonzalez_foe_org\/ETHxWHv5NFdIo-JOR-nKzvgB0ebbgI3i2IuCfApmA0cLDA?e=BGKvzM__;!!IIed8l2J2Mno!Z_fKSCviW0VxmaO8G8pnWV9adkSkgEPoAfkaI_M17nCNbf3pG-ABQKnpRaEzCISPWhJcO7K9CMsRT-Ol5Zd7$\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/urldefense.com\/v3\/__https:\/foe-my.sharepoint.com\/:b:\/g\/personal\/lgonzalez_foe_org\/ETHxWHv5NFdIo-JOR-nKzvgB0ebbgI3i2IuCfApmA0cLDA?e%3DBGKvzM__;!!IIed8l2J2Mno!Z_fKSCviW0VxmaO8G8pnWV9adkSkgEPoAfkaI_M17nCNbf3pG-ABQKnpRaEzCISPWhJcO7K9CMsRT-Ol5Zd7$&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1765930208644000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3d2SS305IVCXd-C3WNMoZj\">Fact sheet<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/urldefense.com\/v3\/__https:\/foe-my.sharepoint.com\/:b:\/g\/personal\/lgonzalez_foe_org\/EQKQE6febxJNiV7Q-iHxKnEBNAh4whgudeuOU-_OZda1FQ?e=Dy3rAf__;!!IIed8l2J2Mno!Z_fKSCviW0VxmaO8G8pnWV9adkSkgEPoAfkaI_M17nCNbf3pG-ABQKnpRaEzCISPWhJcO7K9CMsRT9wLzAYO$\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/urldefense.com\/v3\/__https:\/foe-my.sharepoint.com\/:b:\/g\/personal\/lgonzalez_foe_org\/EQKQE6febxJNiV7Q-iHxKnEBNAh4whgudeuOU-_OZda1FQ?e%3DDy3rAf__;!!IIed8l2J2Mno!Z_fKSCviW0VxmaO8G8pnWV9adkSkgEPoAfkaI_M17nCNbf3pG-ABQKnpRaEzCISPWhJcO7K9CMsRT9wLzAYO$&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1765930208644000&amp;usg=AOvVaw11CB2gyFV9HN_CJBsw8ewW\">Section-by-section summary<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/foe.org\/resources\/usda-purchasing-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/foe.org\/resources\/usda-purchasing-2\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1765930208644000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2BaMP_pSDCMKuvXOTf2RWT\">Friends of the Earth Nov. 2025 report: How USDA\u2019s commodity food purchasing favors industrial agriculture<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><strong>What you can do:<\/strong> If you are a U.S. resident, contact <strong>your senator and representative<\/strong> to ask for their support! Just look up their contact info on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.senate.gov\/senators\/senators-contact.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Senate<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.house.gov\/representatives\/find-your-representative\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">House<\/a> directories, and ask them to support Senator Edward Markey\u2019s and Congresswoman Alma Adams&#8217; EFFECTIVE Food Procurement Act of 2025. In addition, you can ping them on social media, and while you&#8217;re at it, ask for the support of <strong>USDA<\/strong> @USDA (X, FB), @usdagov (IG), and <strong>USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins<\/strong> @secrollins (X).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><strong>Update: December 5, 2023:<\/strong> The EFFECTIVE Food Procurement Act has been assigned bill numbers: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/118th-congress\/senate-bill\/3390\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">S.3390<\/span><\/a><\/strong> in the Senate and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/118th-congress\/house-bill\/6569\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">H.R.6569<\/span><\/a><\/strong> in the House of Representatives.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><strong>Original Post: December 4, 2023:<\/strong> <\/em>In anticipation of the 2024 Farm Bill, we are proud to play a part in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markey.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/ahead-of-thanksgiving-senator-markey-congresswoman-adams-announce-legislation-to-harness-federal-purchasing-power-to-build-a-just-and-resilient-food-system\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">introducing<\/span><\/a> <b>new federal legislation that would leverage billions of dollars of food spending by USDA to help build a more just, healthy, and sustainable food system.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Introduced by Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) and Congresswoman Alma Adams (NC-12), the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Enabling Farmer, Food worker, Environmental, and Climate Targets through Innovative, Values-aligned, and Equitable <\/span><\/i><b><i>(EFFECTIVE) Food Procurement Act<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> would direct and support USDA to shift toward values-aligned food procurement. The legislation would benefit workers, farmed animals, and the environm<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ent alike, and <\/span><b>has been <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markey.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/effective_food_procurement_act_endorsements_-_112023pdf1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>endorsed<\/b><\/a><b> by more than 200 organizations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The vast majority of USDA\u2019s food purchases are not congruent with its own values-based goals and policy objectives like mitigating climate change, conserving natural resources, building resilient supply chains, supporting socially disadvantaged producers and worker well-being, and expanding healthy choices for schools and its other program beneficiaries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The EFFECTIVE Food Procurement Act would change that. The Act was inspired by a new <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedgoodfoodpurchasing.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Federal Good Food Purchasing Coalition<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FGFP Coalition), of which Farm Forward is a founding member. The FGFP Coalition grew out of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/issues\/food-policy\/good-food-purchasing-program\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Good Food Purchasing Program<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (GFPP), a flexible metric-based framework that encourages large institutions to direct their buying power toward six core values including equity, nutrition, valued workforce, animal welfare, environmental sustainability, and community-based economies. For years, we have led the team that updates GFPP\u2019s animal welfare value area. As GFPP has been implemented by dozens of cities, municipalities, and school districts across the country, we have seen the outsized role that the federal government plays in food purchasing. This year we joined with other GFPP leaders in a concerted effort to redirect those federal food dollars, almost 40 percent of which in 2022 was spent on animal products. <\/span><b>In 2022<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>The biggest food purchaser in the federal government, USDA, spent more than four billion dollars<\/b> <b>on commodity foods<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for school districts, food banks, low-income seniors, foreign aid, and Indian reservations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The USDA primarily purchases from a handful of agricultural megacorporations, many of which have repeatedly violated labor, environmental, and animal welfare laws. For example, Tyson Foods accounted for 43 percent of USDA poultry spending in 2022, despite incurring more than 30 workplace and environmental violations w<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ithin three years of receiving their contract, and USDA suspending program personnel at Tyson due to what USDA termed \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fsis.usda.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/media_file\/documents\/NOS-M244W-09122022.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">egregious violation of the humane handling requirements<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d that very year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The EFFECTIVE Food Procurement Act would shift USDA away from evaluating bids based <\/b><b><i>only on cost<\/i><\/b><b> to evaluating bids based on multiple <\/b><b><i>values<\/i><\/b><b>, including equity, worker well-being, climate mitigation, animal welfare, resilient s<\/b><b>upply chains, and nutrition.<\/b> While increasing transparency in USDA spending, the Act would (among other things) measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with USDA\u2019s procurement, provide grants and technical assistance to small and socially disadvantaged producers and businesses, and <b>shift USDA\u2019s purchases of animal products from the lowest common denominator to more pasture-raised livestock, more farms participating in independent animal welfare certification programs, and more plant-based proteins.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-4874\" src=\"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Federal-Food-Spending-by-Department-300x175.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"262\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Federal-Food-Spending-by-Department-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Federal-Food-Spending-by-Department-1024x596.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Federal-Food-Spending-by-Department-768x447.png 768w, https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Federal-Food-Spending-by-Department-1536x894.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Federal-Food-Spending-by-Department-2048x1192.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The social and environmental benefit of such shifts would be staggering.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Earlier this year the FGFP Coalition produced <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedgoodfoodpurchasing.org\/impact-analysis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a report on federal food purchasing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with findings including:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The USDA\u00a0is the largest direct food purchaser in the federal government, and combined with the Department of Defense accounts for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedgoodfoodpurchasing.org\/impact-analysis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">90 percent<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of direct federal food purchases, which totaled more than $9 billion in 2022.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The USDA Foods Program had a carbon footprint of more than 19 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent between the school year of 2018 and 2019, equal to the annual emissions from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedgoodfoodpurchasing.org\/effective-press-release\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4.1 million cars<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Replacing 25 percent of federal animal product purchases with plant-based sources of protein would spare 26,736,641 animal lives, make available 9.3 million acres of land (equal to the size of Maryland), save $248 million, and reduce 1.6 million tons of Co2e annually\u2014more than the equivalent of taking every passenger vehicle in Washington, D.C. and Alaska out of commission, all year, every year.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-4875\" src=\"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Benefits-of-replacing-25-percent-265x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"467\" height=\"529\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Benefits-of-replacing-25-percent-265x300.png 265w, https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Benefits-of-replacing-25-percent-905x1024.png 905w, https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Benefits-of-replacing-25-percent-768x869.png 768w, https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Benefits-of-replacing-25-percent.png 1189w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 467px) 100vw, 467px\" \/>On November 7, Farm Forward and other representatives of the FGFP Coalition met with Senator Richard Blumenthal\u2019s (D-CT) office, and we\u2019re pleased that Senator Blumenthal has now signed on as the bill\u2019s Senate cosponsor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may be interested to review the FGFP Coalition\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedgoodfoodpurchasing.org\/impact-analysis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on how we could better leverage federal food purchasing for climate, environmental, and social benefits, and the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/civileats.com\/2023\/11\/29\/the-government-spends-billions-on-food-who-is-it-buying-it-from\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Civil Eats article<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> about the Act. But most importantly: <\/span><b>all U.S. residents can contact their senators and representatives to ask that they support the EFFECTIVE Food Procurement Act. [December 2025 update: <\/b>Just look up their contact info on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.senate.gov\/senators\/senators-contact.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.senate.gov\/senators\/senators-contact.htm&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1765930208644000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0Y5vPn1dN-1adhk4tWyP1z\">Senate<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.house.gov\/representatives\/find-your-representative\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.house.gov\/representatives\/find-your-representative&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1765930208644000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2mkfouck3AVqAcW_jJIWWp\">House <\/a>directori<wbr \/>es, and ask them to support\u00a0Senator Edward Markey\u2019s and Congresswoman Alma Adams&#8217;\u00a0EFFECTIVE Food Procurement Act of 2025. Additionally, you can ping them on social media, and while you&#8217;re at it, ask for the support of<b>USDA<\/b>@USDA (X, FB)<b>,\u00a0<\/b>@usdagov (IG)<b>, and\u00a0USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins<\/b>@secrollins (X).<b>]<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Good food purchasing at the federal level is the next step in how we are building a better future for American workers, communities, ecosystems, and farmed animals. Together, we are building a future free of factory farms.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n\n\n\t<section class=\"last_updated padding-top-small padding-bottom-small\" style=\"\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"last-updated-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"section-title small\">Last Updated<\/h6>\n\t\t\t\t<p class=\"date small\">December 15, 2025<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":4876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,23,24,22,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animal-welfare","category-climate-and-environment","category-food-policy","category-food-system-solutions","category-legislation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}