USDA Funding for Veterans and Household Spending for Food

**The USDA announced $27.6 million in grants for underserved and veteran farmers, ranchers, and foresters.

The funding will provide training, outreach and technical assistance to help them own and operate successful farms, ranches, and forest lands.

The funding is made through USDA's 2501 Program, administered by the USDA Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement.

Since 2010, the 2501 Program has provided more than $221 million to fund more than 657 projects.

**USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is celebrating its many successful efforts to prevent African swine fever from reaching the United States.

In honor of ASF Action Week, APHIS is recognizing the continuing efforts to prevent this deadly swine disease from reaching our shores.

Some of the agency’s major accomplishments include enhancing existing safeguards, strengthening Customs and Border Protection partnerships, and further collaboration with states, industry and producers.

**Households spend more on food as their incomes rise, but the amount represents a smaller share of their overall budgets, according to USDA’s Economic Research Service.

Households in the lowest income group averaged an after-tax income of $16,337 and spent an average of $5,090 on food in 2022.

Households in the highest income group, with an after-tax income of nearly $197,000, spent an average of $15,713 on food.