Perriello backs fresh produce bill - WNBC29

Perriello Backs Fresh Produce Bill


Perriello Wants Fresh Produce In Food Banks

Food banks across the country are seeing more people who need their help, but very little of the food they give away is fresh produce. Congressman Tom Perriello is co-sponsoring a bill that could change that.

The bill Perriello proposed would create permanent tax incentives for farmers who donate their extra food to charity. Perriello says this legislation is a step that would help local farmers meet the increased needs of food banks in Virginia and beyond.

Less than 20 percent of the 18-million pounds of food the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank distributes is fresh produce.

The food bank's CEO says the more fresh produce that is donated, the more it can give to the people it serves who normally eat fast food.

Farmers already get a tax break for donating excess food to charity. But that break ends for some of them at the end of the year. Perriello's proposal would make the tax incentives permanent.

Perriello says, "The farmers who, again, are operating on thin margins, get a little bit of credit for it, but more importantly, the food banks get good local nutritious food to help balance out the diets of those they're trying to help."

Whitney Critzer, with Critzer Family Farms, says "It would be a good thing for us. And it's very helpful for us to always receive credit for that. Because it's something you are contributing, like a cash donation or something like that."

The Farm Bureau has endorsed the bill.

Perriello says his proposal simply builds on things that have been successful before, and creates a positive outcome for the food banks, the people who need them, and small farmers.