Richland฀benefi฀ts from฀USDA฀funds

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced a $1.13 billion investment to bolster local and regional food systems.

This latest funding announcement aims to continue strengthening local food systems, expanding markets, and building a resilient food supply chain.

Specifically, in Richland Parish, $14,915.23 was spent on local food procurement through the USDA’s Local Food for Schools Program, directly benefiting the community’s economy and food systems.

This funding builds on previous investments in the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement and Local Food for Schools programs.

This round of funding will enable states, territories, and federally recognized Tribes to purchase locally produced foods for distribution within their communities, including to emergency food providers, schools, and child care centers. Interested parties can visit the respective LFPA or LFS websites for more information on participating or becoming a vendor.

USDA Under Secretary Jenny Lester Moffitt highlighted the programs’ success in supporting local economies and ensuring food security. Cindy Long, USDA’s Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, emphasized the importance of providing nutritious food to children, including expanding efforts to child care facilities.

The funding breakdown includes:

•฀ Up฀ to฀ $471.5฀ million฀ for states and territories to purchase local foods for schools.

•฀ Up฀ to฀ $188.6฀ million฀ for฀child฀care฀facilities฀participating ฀ in฀ the฀ Child฀ and฀ Adult฀Care฀Food฀Program.

•฀ Up฀ to฀ $471.5฀ million฀ for฀local฀feeding฀programs,฀ with฀ $100฀ million฀ allocated ฀to฀Tribal฀governments.

Louisiana฀ Farm฀ to฀ School฀ Program฀ Director฀ Crystal฀ Besse฀ noted฀ the฀ economic฀ impact฀ of฀ these฀ investments,฀ “According ฀ to฀ the฀ National฀ Farm฀ to฀ School฀ Network,฀ each฀ dollar฀ invested฀ in฀ local฀ farm฀ to฀ school฀ purchasing฀ contributes฀ an฀ additional฀ $0.06-$2.16฀ to฀ the฀ local฀ economy.”฀ Since฀ its฀ inception฀ in฀ response฀ to฀ the฀ COVID-19฀ pandemic,฀ the฀ LFPA฀ and฀ LFS฀programs฀have฀invested ฀ over฀ $1฀ billion฀ in฀ local฀ food฀ purchases.฀ These฀ efforts ฀ have฀ involved฀ over฀ 8,000฀ local฀ producers฀ and฀ benefited฀nearly฀7,900฀food฀ banks฀ and฀ pantries฀ across฀ the฀country.

For฀ more฀ information,฀ about฀ the฀ program฀ visit฀ www.usda.gov.

www.usda.gov