Madam President, today I am introducing the Expanding Access to EAT Local Foods Act with Senators Brown, Booker, Wyden, Butler, Whitehouse, King, Blumenthal, Smith, Shaheen, Warren, Fetterman, and…
Madam President, today I am introducing the Expanding Access to EAT Local Foods Act with Senators Brown, Booker, Wyden, Butler, Whitehouse, King, Blumenthal, Smith, Shaheen, Warren, Fetterman, and Welch. This bill would create a permanent grant program for State and Tribal governments to procure local foods for distribution to nearby hunger relief programs.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted national supply chains and highlighted the importance of resilient, local food systems. In response, the U.S. Department of Agriculture created the Local Food Purchase Cooperative Agreement, LFPA, Program, using nearly $900 million in one-time funds. Through LFPA, USDA has awarded grants to State and Tribal governments to buy local foods for distribution to nearby feeding programs. LFPA provides as access to food for those in need, creates economic opportunity for local and underserved producers, farmers, and fishermen, and strengthens our food supply chains.
This program is making a positive impact in communities across the country. In my home State of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management has worked with the nonprofit Farm Fresh Rhode Island to purchase food from 95 local producers, distributing that nutritious, local food to over 65,000 Rhode Islanders.
However, unless codified in law, this program will end when the one- time LFPA dollars are fully expended. And without sustained investment, we will lose the resilient local food systems that the LFPA program has been able to create.
The EAT Local Foods Act prevents us from losing ground by creating a permanent program for States and Tribes to purchase food from producers within their State's geographic bounds or within 400 miles of the final delivery destination for distribution through the hunger relief system.
This is a win-win-win. First, the bill supports local economic development by providing local producers with access to the hunger relief market. By establishing a new, reliable stream of orders for small, beginning, and underserved farmers, ranchers, and fishers, the bill will give these businesses the financial security to invest and further expand. Second, the bill would strengthen our domestic agriculture supply chain. By investing in local food distribution, the bill would help build local businesses that support durable and resilient local food systems. Third, the EAT Local Foods Act would help combat food insecurity by providing fresh, nutritious, local food to underserved communities, feeding more families and helping ease the strain on the hunger relief system.
I am pleased that the bill is supported by farmers, food hubs, coalitions, and business networks from across the country, including the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the National Center for Frontier Communities, and the Wallace Center at Winrock International. In Rhode Island, the bill is supported by the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, Farm Fresh Rhode Island, the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Food Policy Council, and Southside Community Land Trust. I hope that my colleagues will join me in supporting this legislation and in working to include it in the farm bill.
