MORGANTOWN – PA Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding and Feeding PA gathered at Berks County’s Weaver’s Orchard to celebrate a decade-long partnership supplying families in need with fresh, high-quality food and giving farmers a reliable market for their surplus crops through the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System or PASS. Since 2016, the PA Department of Agriculture has worked through PASS to increase food security and reduce food waste, providing $31.9 million to Feeding PA’s network of food banks to buy 38.3 million pounds of surplus food from state farmers. PASS dollars cover harvesting, processing, transportation, and packaging costs for top quality items that otherwise go to waste. In the last decade, the PASS partnership has united farmers, food banks, and state government in serving over 31.7 million meals to 7.9 million households in need across the state.
