California Association of Food Banks to Partner with Community Alliance with Family Farmers and Fresh Approach on USDA’s Newly Announced Local Food Purchase Assistance Program

Today, the United States Department of Food and Agriculture announced California’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA) at the Yolo Food Bank – a member of the California Association of Food Banks. Read USDA’s announcement here.

As a grant recipient of this new program, California Association of Food Banks will be working in collaboration with the Community Alliance with Family Farmers and Fresh Approach to source, secure, and deliver the locally grown produce prioritizing small farms and farmers of color to food banks and food distribution organizations and the millions of Californians that rely on them.

“We are grateful for Secretary Vilsack’s leadership in uplifting and supporting California’s smaller food producers and for CDSS ensuring the food gets into the hands of food insecure Californians. This is a unique opportunity and we are proud to be partnering with Community Alliance with Family Farmers and Fresh Approach to get even more high quality, farm fresh produce to food banks,” said Stacia Hill Levenfeld, CEO of the California Association of Food Banks. “With the high prices of gas and food, both families and food banks’ budgets are stretched thin. We must continue to find new ways to meet the ongoing hunger crisis and bring all available ideas and resources to bear.”

“We believe that LFPA funding presents a rich opportunity to distribute investment around the state that will support the greater viability of local and socially disadvantaged farmers/producers and small to medium-sized food aggregation businesses. By engaging the local food system at the community level, our model will support building new linkages between local food producers, food banks, and other community food distribution organizations,” said Andy Ollove, Food Access Program Director of Fresh Approach.

“The LFPA program creates a twofold opportunity to support our community. We can provide fresh and healthy food to those communities that need it the most, while also supporting the backbone of California’s agriculture – small- to mid-scale family farmers and farmers of color. With this approach and with the critical work being done by our partners, The California Association of Food Banks and Fresh Approach, we can create a virtuous cycle that will increase our state’s market resilience in times of economic uncertainty,”  said Hector Reider, Farm to Market Senior Manager of Community Alliance with Family Farmers.

More details to be announced as the program progresses.