FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 4, 2024
CONTACT:
Christina Dexter, IFU Communications Director
[email protected] | 816-738-5402
Iowa Local and Regional Food System Partners Applaud USDA for Investment in Local Farmers and Food Assistance
DES MOINES – On Tuesday, October 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced an investment of $1.7 billion for the procurement of locally and regionally produced foods and domestically produced foods for emergency food assistance. This timely announcement comes just 6 months before the expected end of the USDA Local Food Purchasing Assistance (LFPA) and Local Food for Schools (LFS) Cooperative Agreement Programs, which began during COVID.
Iowa Local and Regional Food System partners from around the state – including farmers, food hubs, and food system organizations – have dedicated great energy over the past several months to advocate for the continuation of the LFPA and LFS programs at the state and national level. These programs provide unprecedented benefits to small farmers, food hubs, schools, and food access organizations, and we applaud the USDA for continuing their investment.
“Iowa’s table food farmers work tirelessly to provide high quality food to their communities grown in some of the world’s richest soil,” said Aaron Lehman, President of Iowa Farmers Union. “This USDA investment demonstrates a huge dedication from the Biden-Harris administration in providing robust opportunities for regional food system providers to feed their communities and build new markets with schools and food banks in doing so.”
Iowa’s 10 food hubs and nodes have been key partners in connecting producers with public schools and food access organizations. “Food hubs procure food from over 280 producers across the State of Iowa and have helped deliver food to over 160 school districts and 900 food access sites,” said Giselle Bruskewitz, facilitator for Iowa’s Food Hub Managers Working Group. “This investment will help food hubs keep doing what they do best – aggregating food from local and regional producers and distributing it to Iowans.”
The 2024 Iowa Food System Plan ‘Setting the Table for All Iowans,’ authored by the Iowa Food System Coalition (IFSC), aims to create a thriving, sustainable, and equitable food system in Iowa. Chris Schwartz, director of IFSC, says that, over the past three years, “these programs benefited farmers, schools and access sites across 70% of the state and resulted in a $1.94 local return on every $1 invested in the program. Combined with the state investment in the Choose Iowa Purchasing Pilot Program, the continuation of the LFPA and LFS will strengthen Iowa’s economy, health, and environment.”
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About Iowa Farmers Union
The Iowa Farmers Union is a grassroots membership organization of family farmers and ranchers, advocates, and consumers committed to promoting family agriculture in Iowa. Since 1915, Iowa Farmers Union members have worked together to strengthen the independent family farm through education, legislation, and cooperation and to provide Iowans with sustainable production, safe food, a clean environment, and healthy communities.