USDA Announces Its Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement with Tennessee

Sep 28, 2022

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today announced it has signed a cooperative agreement with Tennessee under the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA). Through LFPA, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) seeks to purchase and distribute locally grown, produced, and processed food from underserved producers.

“USDA is excited to partner with Tennessee to promote economic opportunities for farmers and producers and to increase access to locally sourced, fresh, healthy, and nutritious food in underserved communities,” said USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt. “The Local Food Purchase Cooperative Agreement Program will improve food and agricultural supply-chain resiliency and increase local food consumption around the country.”

With the LFPA funding, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) will partner with Tennessee’s Feeding America Food Banks to procure and distribute local and regional foods and beverages produced by underserved farmers. These healthy and nutritious produce and beverages, that are unique to Tennessee’s geographical region, will be distributed to insecure population in the state’s underserved communities.

“There is nothing quite like eating a delicious and healthy meal made with fresh, local ingredients,” Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, said. “The LFPA will not only increase access to those ingredients for our neighbors in need. It will also benefit our farmers who contribute to the safest, most nutritious food system in the world. The Tennessee Department of Agriculture is proud to take part in this program.”

The LFPA program is authorized by the American Rescue Plan to maintain and improve food and agricultural supply chain resiliency. Through this program, USDA will award up to $400 million through non-competitive cooperative agreements with state and tribal governments to support local, regional, and underserved producers through the purchase of food produced within the state or within 400 miles of delivery destination.

AMS looks forward to continuing to sign agreements under this innovative program that allows state and tribal governments to procure and distribute local and regional foods and beverages that are healthy, nutritious, and unique to their geographic area.

Source : usda.gov

Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

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