{"id":29448,"date":"2025-11-05T10:33:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T15:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=29448"},"modified":"2025-11-05T10:33:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T15:33:31","slug":"maryland-department-of-agriculture-awards-funding-to-food-banks-for-blue-catfish-purchases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2025\/11\/05\/maryland-department-of-agriculture-awards-funding-to-food-banks-for-blue-catfish-purchases\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Department of Agriculture Awards Funding to\u00a0Food Banks for Blue Catfish Purchases"},"content":{"rendered":"

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ANNAPOLIS, MD (November 5, 2025)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The\u00a0Maryland Department of Agriculture\u00a0<\/strong>has announced the award of $1.9 million to the\u00a0Maryland Food Bank<\/strong>,\u00a0Capital Area Food Bank<\/strong>, and\u00a0Western Maryland Food Bank\u00a0<\/strong>to be used for the purchase of Wild Caught Chesapeake blue catfish filets.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Funded by the\u00a0U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service<\/strong>\u00a0in a cooperative agreement with the department, this program will provide approximately 283,000 pounds of fish filets to food banks for distribution statewide.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThis initiative will help feed our neighbors in need, support seafood processors and watermen, and help remove this non-native but tasty species from the Chesapeake and its tributaries,\u201d said\u00a0Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Kevin Atticks<\/strong>. \u201cWe are thrilled to once again partner with USDA on this initiative as an important tool in addressing hunger and supporting our rural maritime communities.\u201d<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

“Blue catfish is a win-win for the Maryland Food Bank\u2014we are supporting local businesses and helping to combat an invasive species in the Bay, while also providing a nutritious source of protein to neighbors facing food insecurity,” said\u00a0Meg Kimmel, President and CEO of the Maryland Food Bank<\/strong>. “We are excited to continue our strong partnership with the Maryland Department of Agriculture.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

From December 2025 to December 2026, blue catfish fillets will be distributed through Maryland food banks. The program will allocate funds as follows: the\u00a0Maryland Food Bank<\/a>\u00a0will receive $1,384,803, the\u00a0Capital Area Food Bank<\/a>\u00a0will receive $499,693, and the\u00a0Western Maryland Food Bank<\/a>\u00a0will receive $53,617.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re grateful for our enduring partnership with the Maryland Department of Agriculture. This investment, especially now, helps us provide a locally-sourced, nourishing protein in high demand to our Maryland neighbors in need,\u201d said\u00a0Radha Muthiah, President and CEO of Capital Area Food Bank<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Western Maryland Food Bank is grateful to be included in this partnership,\u201d said\u00a0Amy Moyer, Executive Director of the Western Maryland Food Bank<\/strong>. \u201cWe appreciate the Maryland Department of Agriculture bringing a greatly needed protein to the food insecure in Allegany and Garrett Counties.\u00a0 It is great to work together for Marylanders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information about this initiative please contact\u00a0Assistant Secretary of Marketing, Animal Industries and Consumer Services Cassie Shirk\u00a0<\/strong>at Cassie.Shirk@Maryland.gov\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

###<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANNAPOLIS, MD (November 5, 2025)\u00a0\u2013 The\u00a0Maryland Department of Agriculture\u00a0has announced the award of $1.9 million to the\u00a0Maryland Food Bank,\u00a0Capital Area Food Bank, and\u00a0Western Maryland Food Bank\u00a0to be used for the purchase of Wild Caught Chesapeake blue catfish filets.\u00a0Funded by the\u00a0U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service\u00a0in a cooperative agreement with the department, this program  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29450,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29448\/revisions\/29450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}