Issue 2, December 2017
Happy Holidays from ACDA! As you prepare for the holidays with your own family and friends, please keep those less fortunate in mind. Thank you to everyone that contributed to the food bank fundraising efforts for the horrific hurricanes that devastated Houston, parts of Florida and Puerto Rico. We all worked together to help nourish the nation! ACDA has been very busy. In addition to completing our first ever national Educast webinar (which was a huge hit), we have now scheduled our second one titled ‘Processing USDA Foods: It all begins with the menu’. Registration information is available in this newsletter. We hope that you will join us for this exciting educational opportunity! ACDA and our partners at the School Nutrition Association have joined together to support H.R. 3738, the Healthy Breakfasts Help Kids Learn Act of 2017. This bill once enacted will provide schools an additional 6 cents in commodity support for every school breakfast served, adding to the commodity support already provided for every school lunch served, which in turns supports American agriculture. If you haven’t done so already, please encourage your representative to support this bill! Click here to read a copy of the joint memo. Our committees are busy at work creating documents, guidance and advocating for our programs! I would encourage you to consider becoming a member of a committee in the future; we usually ask for new committee members after our annual conference for the next year. In addition, there will be a call for nominations for elected board members prior to conference; please consider running for a board member position with ACDA. Only through strong leadership can our association continue to thrive and be a force for change! ACDA has been undergoing Strategic Planning to build upon the great things we are doing and set the association up for future success. In this newsletter, please look for the section pertaining to Strategic Planning for a brief glimpse of what is happening. We will be sending out opportunities to learn more about this topic both before conference and at conference. Finally, don’t forget to register for the ACDA conference coming up in Minneapolis, MN, April 29th- May 2nd, 2018. It’s going to be great conference! Early bird rate ends February 16, 2018. ACDA: Working together to Nourish the Nation Sincerely, Chris Facha ACDA is proud to announce the results of the Hurricane fundraisers held for Houston, Florida and Puerto Rico. As an organization dedicated to Nourishing the Nation, we felt one of the best ways to directly help the individuals affected by the Hurricanes was to give to the community providers on the scene, food banks. We selected the Houston Food Bank, Feeding Florida, and Banco de Alimentos Puerto Rico, because we believe in the work they do. ACDA contributed $2,000 and the rest came from donations from our membership.
Area Specific Breakdown: Puerto Rico: $2,654.68 Total: $8,954.05
Also, we are honored USDA Secretary, Sonny Perdue, took time out of his busy schedule to thank ACDA for their hard work and dedication (Click here to view the thank you letter). Thank you to everyone that contributed!
ACDA: Working Together to Nourish the Nation | FOLLOW US
Member Spotlight
Dan KolpTitle: Nutrition Services Purchasing Agent Employer: Beaverton School District Bio: Born and raised in Connecticut I moved to Oregon in 2005 after spending 12 years in Florida. I came to school food 3 years ago after having spent most of my career in various capacities in the nursery industry with the last being as a productionoordinator/purchasing agent for 9 years. Fun Fact or Quote: "Laughter is an instant vacation." -- President Ronald Reagan Tell us the benefits of being an ACDA member: Being new to school food I've found ACDA to be invaluable in my education about everything having to do with commodities and commodity processing. It's also helped me network and form valuable relationships with other members who are in the various sectors involved in ACDA. Being an ACDA Member, what do you especially like or appreciate about ACDA? -Submitted by Dan Kolp You Ask, ACDA Answers
Question: How does Buy American compliance affect items not grown domestically or when domestic food purchases are not practical?
Answer: USDA policy memo SP 38-2017 Compliance with and Enforcement of the Buy American Provision explains limited exceptions to the Buy American provision. If a School Food Authority (SFA) is using one of the exceptions, there is no requirement to request a waiver from your State Agency or USDA to purchase a non-domestic product. SFAs must, however, keep documentation justifying their use of exception(s). Review the policy memo for additional details. ACDA has been informed that the institute of Child Nutrition will be releasing Buy American Guidance and training in the first quarter of 2018 for all Child Nutrition Program sponsors. More information will be coming soon! Public Policy UpdatesStay in the know about issues that impact the USDA Food Distribution Program. The posts listed below are available to the public. Click here to subscribe to receive the public policy notices available to the general public. |
After more than 40 years working with the USDA, Food and Nutrition Services (FNS), Peggy Cantfil, Branch Chief of the Child Nutrition Operations Branch has retired. During her tenure in the Food Distribution Division, Peggy was instrumental in implementing the USDA Foods Processing Program and was a reliable source of knowledge to Recipient Agencies, States, Processors and Industry partners. Peggy is a dedicated advocate of Buying American and a passionate supporter of domestic agriculture.
ACDA appreciates Peggy’s involvement in the association for many years to further the goals of the program and ensure that program end recipients receive the best program possible. Peggy is the embodiment of ACDA’s vision statement of ‘Working Together to Nourish the Nation’.
Peggy will surely be missed as she has left big shoes to fill in this position. As of the time that this eNewsletter was published, her vacancy has yet to be filled.
On Tuesday October 24th, Mike Birkmeyer, Section Chief of The Food Distribution Program in MD, was invited to speak at the USDA Industry Meeting in Crystal City, VA. The Industry Meeting is an annual meeting, hosted by The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), which invites all vendors who supply products for the USDA Foods program; both processed and direct delivery.
Attendance this year was approximately 350 people. Mike’s objectives included speaking about ACDA, as well as our mission, and to give a formal invitation to the 2018 ANC in Minneapolis, MN. The meeting was divided into three groups; Specialty Crops, Dairy Grain and Oilseed, and Livestock Poultry Seafood. Mike gave his twenty minute presentation to each group during the day and was able to network with the attendees when not presenting.
The presentations were well received and there was interest in learning more about ACDA. The ACDA Board’s goal is that ACDA members speaking at events like the USDA Industry Meeting will increase interest about ACDA and grow our membership base.
The Institute of Child Nutrition invited Child Nutrition Program professionals from across the country to be on its National Advisory Council/Strategic Planning Committee. ACDA President Chris Facha represented ACDA and ACDA Membership Chair, Jose Quinones representing JTM helped contribute to the Institute’s planning for the next three years.
We are excited to announce a new 29-person Buy American Task Force (BATF). The task force represents all American Commodity Distribution Association (ACDA) memberships and uses the United States Department of Agriculture’s SP38-2017 for guidance. The task force meets monthly and members are excited to bring diversity and grassroots issues to the forefront of the discussion. The task force will assist ACDA members to understand the Buy American policy requirements. It realizes that industry members have strong concerns about these requirements. Much of this feedback stems from the lost sales to imported products sold at cheaper prices in absence of a formal Buy American waiver process. With the other food purchasing authorities present – either at the state or local level – there is a frustration with insufficient increases in meal reimbursements coupled with a perceived requirement to purchase more expensive foods. The production areas are more likely to be concerned about Buy American than non-production areas. Although we can address each of these issues and more, it is the task force’s position to prioritize and accomplish its goals. The task force established that its mission is to assist ACDA members in an ongoing understanding of and compliance with the statutory and regulatory Buy American requirements for school meal programs. The task force is underway and knows that this policy impacts all ACDA members. The task force’s top five list includes: 1) The Buy American policy has ambiguity and confusion. All membership areas express this concern. The committee will dissect these issues and develop answers to frequently asked questions to assist ACDA members. This task force is dedicated to accomplishing its goals and finding solutions on behalf of all ACDA stakeholders. Please contact Andrea Denning at andrea.denning@education.ohio.gov with any questions. |
The 2017-18 Communications Committee has been busy with continued efforts that align directly with board goals. During the Fall Board Meeting held September 26-27, a plan was approved by the ACDA board to continue growth on social media platforms, primarily Facebook. If you have not yet “liked” our page, we encourage you to do so as we will be posting relevant industry and ACDA information on-going. (https://www.facebook.com/commodityfoods.org/) ACDA has also broadened our social media presence with a new and informative page on Linkedin. Make sure to follow along and like this page to stay connected to others within the ACDA community. (https://www.linkedin.com/company/commodityfoods/) The ACDA Communication Committee has changed structure with just one chair, Leah Sullivan, and seven committee members actively working to engage and provide ongoing communications to each member. Brian Hofmeier recently stepped down as Communications co-chair, and we thank him for his many years of serving in this position. We are gearing up efforts for increased communications, such as continued eNewsletters and a Member Spotlight Section, as well as conference visuals, such as signage, to plan for a successful 2018 conference and hope to see each of you in Minneapolis. As always, we work year-round on ways to promote ACDA and tell people what we do and why they should be involved in our organization! If you ever have any suggestions or comments on how ACDA may improve their communications, please submit those directly to Leah Sullivan at Leah.Sullivan@state.co.us. |
On October 25-27, 2017, the Processing Committee met in Arlington-Shirlington, VA for their annual meeting. Minutes are posted to the ACDA website; here are a few highlights:
- The Committee reviewed BMI updates and discussed the role of Processing
- State Agencies representatives discussed results of the Survey Monkey sent to SDAs for input on numerous topics
- SEPDS forms for SY19 will be posted to PartnerWeb for easy access by all Processors to retrieve as necessary
- Marion Browning, Robin Bowman, Dorothy Cole and Carol Gnan agreed to prepare and present for the ACDA Webinar on Processing
- Registration is now open by visiting the ACDA website under the Events tab – the webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, February 6th at 2:00 pm EST
- ACDA RA Handbook and forms are being refreshed with a new look
- ACDA Distributor Handbook was shared and Dorothy Cole is reviewing feedback
- Forms Subcommittee continues work on MPR refresh
The Processing Committee’s Next meeting is tentatively scheduled for May 1, 2018 at the ACDA Annual Conference
Please contact Carole Erb, caroleerb@jtmfoodgroup.com or Tami Radcliff, Tami.Radcliff@vdacs.virginia.gov with any questions.
ACDA is undergoing Strategic Planning to further the associations goals and strategic initiatives for the coming years. We will be holding a series of webinars prior to conference and educational sessions at conference that will tell you all about it. As part of the process, ACDA identified 4 Pillars of Strength to focus on - check out the image below and stay tuned for more information in the coming months!
Thanks for Reading!Thank you for your continued support of ACDA. If you have any eNewsletter ideas or submissions for an upcoming ACDA eNewsletter, please send those to Leah Sullivan at Leah.Sullivan@state.co.us |
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