Pennsylvania budgets $1.5M annually to support the Pennsylvania Agriculture Surplus System (PASS) which works to connect Pennsylvania’s agricultural sector with those in need by supporting donations of food products while being reimbursed for the costs involved in harvesting, processing, packaging, and transportation. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) projects that PASS has contributed over 13 million pounds of food to the food insecure since the program was first funded in 2015. An additional $10M of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding was authorized by Governor Tom Wolf to expand the scope of work of the PASS program this year. Feeding Pennsylvania became the statewide contractor for the PASS program in June of 2020 and hired Tom Mainzer as their Director of Agricultural Partnerships to manage the program

Reports:

King, G., & McDermott, E. (n.d.). (rep.). The Economic Impact of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System. The Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved from https://www.feedingpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/The-Economic-Impact-of-PASS-report.pdf.

The Pennsylvania State University assisted Feeding Pennsylvania to assess the economic impact of their program Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System (PASS). The researchers utilized an IMPLAN and vendor online surveys, and identified an economic output of $11,820,317 from 2015 to 2021, created from $7,500,000 in PASS funding.