USAID contracts with Fitzgerald, GA based MANA Nutrition valued at $44Million were terminated last Wednesday, February 26, at Elon Musk’s direction at DOGE. Chris Whitfield, CFO of MANA Nutrition, told Rural and Progressive close to $14M of that amount is on MANA’s accounts receivable for previously delivered products.
MANA CEO Mark Moore told CNN the nonprofit produces a peanut-based product with high nutritional value in 500 calorie small squeezable packets. The products ships and stores easily for distribution to severe acute malnourished children. The $10M contract MANA Nutrition was fulfilling when Moore received word everything had been cancelled, was restored at midnight on Sunday night.
Whitfield told Rural and Progressive that the company immediately returned to filling the current order in the very early hours of Mondaymorning. He added that MANA has another $20M contract for future orders to be supplied to the United States government.
MANA Nutrition employs 130 people in the rural Georgia community. BenHill County’s unemployment rate in 2024 was 5.1 percent, higher than the state average of 3.7 percent.
At press time, inquiries to Representative Austin Scott, (R-Tifton) who represents the county in Georgia’s 8th Congressional district, concerning any involvement he may have had in restoring the contract, had not been answered. Scott’s Washington, D.C. office told Rural and Progressive he does not have any town hall meetings scheduled in the district at this time. County voters elected Scott by 68.9 percent over his opponent in November 2024. In the last three Presidential elections voters in the rural Georgia county chose Trump by over 60 percent.