Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System (PASS)

PASS reimburses Pennsylvania's agricultural producers, packers, and processors for the costs of harvesting, packaging, processing, and transporting surplus/donated food products that are redirected to the charitable food system. The Department of Agriculture contracts with Feeding Pennsylvania to administer the program through a network of 13 regional food-bank distributors serving 2,700+ charitable partners across all 67 counties. Established by the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System Act (Act 113 of 2010).

Pennsylvania agricultural producers, packers, and processors who donate PA-produced food. Three participation paths: Contract Planting (plan a portion of production for donation with Feeding Pennsylvania and your regional food bank); Surplus Items at Harvest (excess end-of-season product in acceptable condition); and Value-Added Products (dairy, meat, eggs, and shelf-stable items using PA-sourced ingredients). No acreage, revenue, or entity-type restriction is published.

PASS covers the costs associated with harvesting, processing, packaging, and transporting donated Pennsylvania-produced food; amounts are negotiated per arrangement with the regional food bank (no per-recipient cap or pool is published). A sub-initiative, Bid. Buy. Donate., uses PASS funds to cover transportation, processing, and packaging when a youth-livestock-auction buyer donates an animal (beef cattle, hogs, sheep, goats) to a food bank.

This is not a competitive application. A producer enrolls by contacting Feeding Pennsylvania or their regional food bank to plan a donation and the costs to be covered (see contact). Small farms are explicitly encouraged.