Cultivating Cooperation: Building Capacity for Indiana's Collaborative Food and Farm Systems

Cultivating Cooperation: Building Capacity for Indiana's Collaborative Food and Farm Systems is sponsored by Partners IN Food and Farming. Advances shared ownership and collaborative business models across Indiana's food system.

# Transportation and Marketing # Regional Food System Partnerships Program # Fiscal Year 2024 Description of Funded Projects Number of Grants Awarded: 10 Amount of Funds Awarded: $5,224,700. 22 For more information, please visit the grant program's website: https://www. ams.

usda. gov/services/grants/rfsp NOTE: The below project descriptions were provided by the grant recipients. The views expressed in the descriptions do not represent the views of or endorsements by the United States Government or the United States Department of Agriculture.

Recipient: Alaska Food Policy Council, Homer, AK Project Type: Implementation & Expansion Award Amount: $385,216. 55 Match Amount: $100,000. 00 Total Project Amount: $485,216.

55 Collaboration, Knowledge Co -creation, and Network Weaving: Building Alaska Food Systems with # Mapping, Data, and Value Chain Coordination The Alaska Food Policy Council (AFPC) has built a statewide, grassroots network of supporters, amplifiers, and diverse partnerships to address Alaska’s food insecurity while supporting a resilient local food supply.

AFPC engages in education at the city, state, and federal levels to create systemic change. AFPC hosts working groups and special focus working groups, on topics like Indigenous foods, food waste, food hubs, and more.

These groups, which make up the Alaska Food System Network, include individuals and organizations from across the state, resulting in creative solutions and unique challenges that aim to address the food security needs of all Alaskans. Throughout our 2020-22 USDA RFSP Planning Grant, more than 350 Alaskans and 40+ organizations participated in developing a statewide Food Security Action Plan.

From this work, along with our recent work in coauthoring both the Governor’s Food Security & Independence 2022 Task Force Report and the Alaska Legislative Food Strategy Task Force Report, two pressing needs have emerged: a centralized repository of food systems data and assets mapping, and the establishment and facilitation of a multi-stakeholder value chain coordination council.

Together with statewide partners, AFPC has identified clear pathways to successfully launch these projects. Through executing our RFSP work plan, it will leverage our collective expertise to turn these needs into reality and make significant differences to increase food security, while supporting resilient local and regional economies for all Alaskans.

2 Recipient: Local Area Revitalization Project, Susanville, CA Project Type: Planning & Design Award Amount: $205,303. 50 Total Project Amount: $276,126.

50 EPIC Harvest: Building a Resilient Regional Food System in Remote Northeastern California The Eastside Producers Informational Collaborative (EPIC) aims to unite stakeholders in Plumas, Sierra, Lassen, and Modoc counties to develop a resilient regional food system, enhancing market access for local producers and ensuring food security during crises.

These four counties share similar characteristics: a remote and mountainous terrain, tight knit communities with an agricultural heritage, and economic hardship.

EPIC will develop business plans for a regional network of aggregation and distribution that links this region to market opportunities, relieving prohibitive burdens on producers, and creating economic opportunities that provide food security, economic development, and environmental stewardship to the region.

Three goals will be completed during the project period 1) establish plans for a Resilient Regional Food System: Forge strategic partnerships within and between four counties and engage in community outreach and feedback 2) Develop business plans that will enhance market access: Plan and develop a collaborative aggregation and distribution network in and between the four counties, and 3) Ensure food security during crises: Strategize emergency food access alongside the aggregation network to mitigate risks and ensure consistent access to nutritious food.

Recipient: Southeast Regional Cooperative, Inc., East Point, GA Project Type: Planning & Design Award Amount: $250,000. 00 Match Amount: $135,000. 00 Total Project Amount: $385,000.

00 Boundless Distribution Systems Development Partnership The Boundless Distribution Systems Development Partnership will bring together the Southeast Regional Cooperative (SERC) and a diverse community of partners including Feeding America, Partner State Associations, Georgia Department of Agriculture, Georgia State University, and the Southeast Produce Council with a goal of increasing efficiencies throughout the supply chain that support the charitable food network.

SERC will plan and develop strategies in critical areas including transportation management, middle supply chain logistics, value added processing and integrated data management, culminating in a project plan for a regional service center.

For profit organizations and institutes of higher education will be engaged to conduct research, integrate diverse data platforms and operating systems, and optimize planning for sourcing and distribution. Partners will plan and design a regional service center offering freight supplier development and management, freight brokerage, weekend and evening support, and billing services, including programmatic grant administration.

SERC will engage a wide range of community partners including growers, producers, partner organizations and our 3 neighbors to explore and analyze scope of work, location, value added processing, aggregation, distribution, and 3PL partnerships. Attention will be given to socially disadvantaged entities to create sustainable markets, while developing capacity to secure funding for long term stability.

Twelve convenings will be conducted over two years. Two convenings will be for the partnership leaders, and ten will be held specifically for 1) freight and logistics, 2) middle supply chain, 3) engaged data/IT organizations, and 4) growers and other agricultural producers partnerships, and food banks and other engaged non-profit organizations.

Recipient : Hawaii Good Food Alliance, Kaneohe, HI Project Type : Implementation & Expansion Award Amount : $970,429. 00 Match Amount : $500,000. 00 Total Project Amount : $1,470,429.

00 Creating Pathways to Careers in Hawaii's Growing Food Hubs The Hawaii Good Food Alliance (HGFA) and the Hawaii Food Hub Hui (HFHH) are partnering to establish an innovative apprenticeship program that addresses the critical workforce needs of Hawaii's local food system. The program will provide paid on-the-job training, mentorship, and pathways to career advancement for new and existing food hub employees across the state.

The partnership leverages the expertise and resources of HGFA, HFHH, and key collaborators, including educational institutions and local food system stakeholders. HFHH will lead the program's implementation, working closely with participating food hubs to recruit and support apprentices, develop training materials, and coordinate learning experiences.

The project's primary goals are to: (1) Develop a skilled and diverse workforce for Hawaii's food hubs; (2) Enhance the capacity and resilience of local food enterprises; and (3) Strengthen the overall sustainability and equity of Hawaii's regional food system.

To achieve these goals, the program will offer a combination of paid work experience, classroom instruction, mentorship, and professional development opportunities over a 12-months. Each participating food hub will receive funding to support the wages and training of 1-2 apprentices, with a target of engaging 14-28 apprentices statewide.

By investing in human capital and creating career pathways, this project will enable food hubs to scale up their operations, meet the growing demand for local food by Hawaii‘s public institutions, and contribute to a more vibrant and inclusive local economy. The program also aims to serve as a replicable model for workforce development in other regions.

4 Recipient : GrowSmart Maine, Augusta, ME Project Type : Planning & Design Award Amount : $152,952. 00 Match Amount : $95,600. 00 Total Project Amount : $248,552.

00 The Downeast Food System Partnership The Downeast Food System Partnership (DFSP) partners are all working within the overall vision of a broader diversity of Downeasters involved with growing and regularly accessing affordable, locally grown food, and where local farmers and others involved in the local food economy are making a sustainable living.

The DFSP purpose is to provide a platform for developing joint goals and plans, conducting outreach to farming communities, coordinating with relevant actors within and outside the region, and accessing additional resources for implementation of priority actions.

A shared understanding of the existing resources and assets, as well as the shared needs and aspirations of the Downeast Food System will inform the prioritization of joint actions for growing an expanded, innovative and more diverse regional food system. This includes increased processing capacity and market access for farmers and food producers – especially value-added opportunities.

In addition, consensus will be reached among key stakeholders on a set of recommendations for a Downeast Food System Plan, with strategic and fundable project proposals developed that advance the vision of the collective Downeast Food System.

The program’s beneficiaries include, but are not limited to, armers, processors, distributors, and value-add producers; Distressed and food insecure communities, in particular in Washington County; Institutions that purchase food and organizations that serve vulnerable and food insecure populations; Restaurants, grocery stores, farmers’ markets and other sales points that have an interest in offering local food.

Recipient : Pinelands Preservation Alliance, Southampton, NJ Project Type : Implementation & Expansion Award Amount : $946,505. 00 Match Amount : $239,258. 00 Total Project Amount : $1,185,763.

00 Strategic Coalition and Capacity Building to Create New Opportunities for NJ Farmers with the # South Jersey Farmers, Equity, and Sustainability Team (FEAST) The South Jersey Farmers, Equity, and Sustainability Team (FEAST) project is designed to significantly increase the capacity and connectivity of regional food systems in Southern New Jersey.

This project focuses on strengthening local food system infrastructure to improve food security and expand economic opportunities, particularly targeting underserved communities of producers and consumers. The project will establish 24 strategic partnerships that connect local producers directly with institutional consumers such as hospitals and schools.

Of those, at least four partnerships will focus on engaging underserved organizations, and six will directly connect producers with institutional markets. A 5 critical output of this initiative is the development of eight new or improved distribution systems that are expected to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and expand customer reach.

These systems are linked to the newly formed partnerships and will be supported by the creation of a comprehensive project website, serving as a central hub for information on local farms, farmers markets, information and stakeholder engagement.

Additionally, FEAST will work to establish 20 partnerships between regional producers and various market access points, increasing production to meet rising demand, and facilitating more effective product transportation to markets. The project will provide training to 20 stakeholders to develop new strategies that improve food processing, distribution, aggregation, or storage.

The project will establish a network of partnerships, the development of enhanced distribution systems directly benefiting local agricultural operations, and the generation of approximately $900,000 in non-Federal financial resources through increased sales and grants. Recipient : Central Texas Food Bank, Austin, TX Project Type : Planning & Design Award Amount : $249,975. 00 Match Amount : $309,223.

00 Total Project Amount : $559,198. 00 Forming a Central Texas Regional Food System Council This project is a partnership between Central Texas Food Bank (CTFB), Baylor University (BU), and the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), with support from local councils of government and local food access workgroups and coalitions.

The goal is to form a Regional Food System Council that will facilitate regional food chain coordination, multi-sector partnerships, and mid-tier value chain development across Central Texas’ 21 counties and Williamson Counties.

The Central Texas Regional Food System Council will align and scale local efforts through a hub-and-spoke model, fostering collaboration and coordination among stakeholders across the food system value chain and developing public-private partnerships to prioritize and implement regional food system initiatives that improve marketing opportunities in the regional food system.

Collaboration and coordination among the multi-sector members of the Central Texas Regional Food System Council enhances its ability to strengthen Central Texas’ regional food economy by improving farm viability, preserving farmland, and bolstering local and regional food market outlets through value chain coordination. The first year of the project focuses on council formation and setting initial priorities.

The second year focuses fully on setting priorities, conducting 1-2 feasibility studies and piloting strategies identified in the feasibility studies.

A partnership between CTFB, BU, and UT Austin will scale current localized efforts to the regional context, facilitate the creation and co-design of food system planning toolkits to a Central Texas hub-and-spoke model and empower the council to integrate research, policy, and practice by connecting strategies through an integrated, multi-level approach.

6 Recipient: Local Environmental Agriculture Project, Roanoke, VA Project Type: Implementation & Expansion Award Amount: $844,347. 00 Match Amount: $251,315. 00 Total Project Amount: $1,095,662.

00 The Roanoke Foodshed Network: Strong Food and Farm Future The Roanoke Foodshed Network (RFN) represents over 50 diverse nonprofit and community organizations, farmers, food businesses, community members, higher education institutions, and government agencies with the collective vision to build equitable and resilient food and farm systems in the Roanoke region of Southwest Virginia.

Over the past four years, the RFN built high-trust relations with partners, created shared governance that prioritizes community relationships, and crafted a collective vision that is rooted in systems thinking. This foundation will serve as the bedrock for the Strong Food and Farm Future project which will continue to build awareness, support, resilience, and future investment in the Roanoke regional food system.

The purpose of this project is to advance the RFN’s 3-year Implementation Plan, including the following objectives 1) facilitate idea sharing, community relationships, trust, and co-creation among regional food systems partners for collective capacity building and regional food systems change; 2) build awareness of and support for regional food systems economies through collective marketing, storytelling and branding initiatives; 3) support regional farm viability through farmer network building, farmer educational programming, value chain coordination, and shared infrastructure; and 4) compile data across sectors of the food system to identify leverage points for systems-level change and help build the case for regional food system investment.

Recipient: Sustainable Connections, Bellingham, WA Project Type: Implementation & Expansion Award Amount: $969,999. 87 Match Amount: $242,500. 00 Total Project Amount: $1,219,999.

87 Collaborative Growth – Building Shared Marketing and Communications Networks for Local Food # Procurement and Promotion in Washington State The Eat Local First Collaborative plans to unite over 25 diverse organizations to establish a comprehensive marketing and communication network that enhances local food procurement and promotion across Washington State.

Leveraging the expertise of key partners Seattle Good Business Network, Tilth Alliance, and the WA Farm to School Network, this project will help transform Washington’s food system, making it more equitable and just, especially for underserved producers and their communities.

The project seeks to address the critical need for organized, collaborative marketing to support small farms, fisheries, and under-resourced communities, which often lack the capacity to independently create and sustain their marketing tools. Primary beneficiaries include small farms, 7 fisheries, under-resourced communities, state agencies, all scales of buyers including schools and institutions, and consumers.

These stakeholders will benefit from improved market access, enhanced visibility, and strengthened regional food systems. Key partners and collaborators include nonprofits, government agencies, food hubs, and educational institutions such as Tilth Alliance, Seattle Good Business Network, Washington State University (WSU) Food Systems Program, and WSU Extension Regional Small Farm Programs.

Partners operating statewide include the State of Washington Tourism, Washington State Department of Social and Human Services (DSHS), Washington State Department of Agriculture Farm to School Program, and Veteran Conservation Commission. These organizations will leverage their networks and expertise to engage with local producers and buyers.

Regional partners, like WSU Extension programs in multiple counties, tourism agencies, and local agricultural guilds, will act as Regional Leads, ensuring authentic regional representation and support for underrepresented producers and businesses. Recipient: West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition, Inc., Charleston, WV Project Type: Planning & Design Award Amount: $249,972. 30 Total Project Amount: $320,813.

92 Mountains to Metropolis: Connecting West Virginia Value -Added Products to Regional Markets This project unites food and agriculture businesses, non-profits, charitable food organizations, and universities to address improved aggregation and distribution, a critical need for small-scale value-added producers in West Virginia.

With increasing demand for West Virginia-made value-added products both statewide and regionally, a notable gap in mid-tier value-chain coordination has emerged. The goal is to enhance the economic viability and sustainability of these small-scale value-added businesses by forming strong partnerships and designing an efficient distribution network.

This network will extend the reach and competitiveness of West Virginia’s value-added products throughout the broader Mid-Atlantic region. The primary beneficiaries extend beyond the applicant organization to include small-scale value-added producers throughout West Virginia, enhancing their market access and economic opportunities.

In Phase 1, partners will conduct an in-state comprehensive assessment of current aggregation networks, identify gaps and assets, and determine necessary technical and financial resources. This phase also includes planning efficient statewide distribution systems. In Phase 2, partners will establish new out-of-state partnerships.

Project Objectives include identifying, building, and leveraging strategic partnerships and networks among value-added producers, distributors, and retail entities within West Virginia; planning distribution systems to efficiently handle, process, and transport shelf-stable value-added products across the state; expanding aggregation and distribution partnerships established in West Virginia to include broader partnerships across the Mid-Atlantic region; and planning for the aggregation and distribution of West Virginia made value-added products to markets in at least 5 Mid-Atlantic Cities.

1 # Transportation and Marketing # Regional Food System Partnerships Program # Fiscal Year 2023 Description of Funded Projects Number of Grants Awarded: 10 Amount of Funds Awarded: $4,418,541 For more information, please visit the grant program's website: https://www. ams. usda.

gov/services/grants/rfsp NOTE: The below project descriptions were provided by the grant recipients. The views expressed in the descriptions do not represent the views of or endorsements by the United States Government or the United States Department of Agriculture.

Recipient: Division of Agriculture of the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, AR Project Type: Planning & Design Total Project Amount: $323,224 The Building an Arkansas Agricultural Network Development (The BAAND) Project The Building an Arkansas Agricultural Network Development (The BAAND) project builds on two decades of local and regional food systems value-chain work.

The BAAND project will establish a statewide working group representing stakeholders currently supporting the local and regional food system across food producers, food systems practitioners, institutions of higher education, government agencies, industry partners, and community groups.

Recipient: Winrock International, North Little Rock, AR Project Type: Planning & Design Total Project Amount: $327,500 Strengthening Midwest Agriculture Transitions Through Value Chain Coordination Peer Learning Through this project, a group of Midwest partners – facilitated by the Wallace Center – will develop a shared strategy for advancing value chain coordination (VCC) to incentivize regenerative, equitable agriculture in the region.

This planning and design grant has four objectives: interviewing relevant farming groups in the Midwest to understand their perceptions, interests and needs from VCC – particularly those supporting underserved farmers; leveraging the Wallace Center’s national value chain curriculum and training model to provide a workshop for Midwest participants on VCC fundamentals to build peer relationships and knowledge; developing a shared VCC strategy for Midwest agriculture.

Wallace Center and partners will design and host an in-person strategy session to develop an actionable strategy for leveraging VCC to catalyze regenerative agriculture transitions; and focusing on promoting the strategy to regional and national audiences of decision-makers, funders, peer organizations, and networks – including the Wallace Center’s national VCC community of practice.

Wallace and partners will identify and pursue opportunities to share the strategy developed in objective three such as conferences and other events.

Recipient: Community Partners, Los Angeles, CA Project Type: Farm to Institution Total Project Amount: $1,072,503 Good Food Purchasing: California Recent policy advances in California have created a potential tipping point for the movement to use institutional purchasing of good food (food produced and procured in a way that promotes healthy and thriving communities, good jobs, local producers, environmental stewardship, and animal welfare) to achieve broad economic, health, environmental, and climate benefits.

To leverage this favorable policy landscape, project partners will establish Good Food Purchasing: California , a new regional collaborative to connect and amplify impacts of advanced good food purchasing initiatives in Los Angeles and the Bay Area.

The collaborative will establish a multi-sector, public-private, regional partnership that will: 1) increase values-aligned food purchasing by institutions; 2) bring underserved producers/suppliers into institutional supply chains; 3) provide technical assistance to producers, suppliers, institutions, and local coalitions; 4) network local initiatives; and 5) use collected data to demonstrate regional impacts and advance good food purchasing policies/strategies.

3 The Collaborative will be convened by the Center for Good Food Purchasing with lead partners the Los Angeles Food Policy Council (LAFPC), San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR), and Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), and will build on established partnerships with cross-sector leaders from each metropolitan region (including anchor institutions, community organizations, producers, suppliers, and policymakers), as well as key California government agencies.

Recipient: Emerald Cities Collaborative, Washington, D. C.

(California Chapter) Project Type: Planning & Design Total Project Amount: $312,500 Catalyzing A Local Food Processing Network in the Capito l Corridor The vision of the Anchors in Resilient Communities (ARC) Regional Food System Initiative is an equitable and resilient regional food economy – to operationalize partnerships across the food value chain to meet growing institutional demand in the region.

The two-year planning process, outlined in the proposal "Catalyzing A Local Food Processing Network in the Capitol Corridor", will create an implementation strategy to incorporate aggregation, value-added processing, and distribution into critical infrastructure components within Northern California, along the I-80 corridor, and coordinate food production and processing across the region to increase institutional market opportunities.

The planning and design process will be successful with the completion of the following deliverables: 1) a comprehensive landscape assessment of existing food value chain infrastructure that can support increased value-added processing and meal production capacity along the I-80 corridor; 2) a gap and opportunities analysis of current, regional food system infrastructure to meet the increasing processing demand for locally- grown food products; 3) a business plan for the development of regional, value-added products, combining ingredients grown across the region, and a process for the establishment of cooperative ownership agreements among interested producers and processors; 4) a capital strategy which articulates funding needs across the value chain and prioritizes the development of BIPOC and minority-owned farms and processing businesses; and 5) continued partnership development with participating anchor institutions and BIPOC producers and processors throughout the 2-year planning process.

Recipient: Trailhead Institute, Denver, CO Project Type: Planning & Design Total Project Amount: $342,363 Collaborating to Define Food System Infrastructure Needs in Jefferson County, Colorado The Jefferson County Food Policy Council (JCFPC) is a community-based organization established in 2022 that facilitates collaboration and coordination to build an equitable and resilient local food system.

With a network of over 280 individuals and organizations and a recently established Supply Chain and Infrastructure Coalition, JCFPC provides a platform for partnership and collaboration among diverse 4 stakeholders to build an equitable and resilient food chain.

JCFPC’s proposed planning and design project will continue to build and diversify the coalition, which currently includes community members, local government, local retail, farmers, food pantries, and philanthropic foundations. Coalition members will work together to lead the project with the support of JCFPC staff and resources.

Coalition members will receive formal training on local supply chain coordination, principles of collaboration, cooperative models for shared infrastructure, community leadership, and racial equity.

Together, the Coalition will use the skills gained from training to collaboratively create an asset and needs assessment, a geospatial resource database, and a feasibility study to increase understanding of the local food value chain and to test shared infrastructure solutions.

The project will benefit all food system actors in Jefferson County, especially small farmers, local food retailers, food distributors including food pantries, and low food access communities. The feasibility of a collaborative solution will be tested, resulting in increased preparedness to seek investment for implementation of the solution.

The established culture of collaboration will drive and build our local supply chain and food resiliency. Recipient : Fork Food Lab, South Portland, ME Project Type : Implementation & Expansion Total Project Amount : $1,332,677 The Second Harvest Partnership: Adding Value to Upcycled and Surplus Produce Portland Maine has achieved “Foodie” status as Boston magazine raved of the “Killer Food Scene” in a 2021 review.

In comparison, Food Solutions New England recently reported regional institutions spend 3% of their budget on local foods. The 2017 USDA Farm to School Census reported that Maine schools purchased approximately 7% of their food budget locally, excluding the value of fluid milk.

Meanwhile ReFED: Roadmap to 2030 estimates 30% or 10 million pounds of produce is relegated to food loss in the six-county Southern Maine region because there is no local processor that could transform these lower grade crops into value-added products.

The Second Harvest Partnership is a mid-scale value chain that includes institutional buyers, farmers, processors, logistics, and small, socially disadvantaged farms to open new markets for produce. With its move to a larger facility, Fork Food Lab, the state’s leading commercial kitchen and food business incubator, will offer the solution that the current infrastructure has not been able to capitalize or incentivize.

Through the Second Harvest Partnership, the region will establish the relationships, equipment, systems, protocols, and business model to capture upcycled and surplus product, add value to the fruits and vegetables, and sell intermediate inputs and finished goods to eager markets throughout southern Maine.

5 Recipient : Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Minneapolis, MN Project Type : Planning & Design Total Project Amount : $151,694 MinneAg Network - Community Storytelling to Educate and Advocate: Growing Minnesota Farm Through this project, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) will convene diverse farm and food systems stakeholders from across Minnesota in the MinneAg Network.

The goal of the MinneAg Network is to build relationships, coordinate a community input process to define the strategic priorities, collaborate with partners to develop needed civic engagement resources, and support communications capacity building to boost community storytelling.

MinneAg Network aims to lift community members and highlight their solutions to nurture vibrant food systems that provide access to sufficient, safe, culturally appropriate, and nutritious food while developing local supply chains that allow small to mid-scale farmers access to markets. This project will strengthen relationships across organizations and deepen stakeholders’ understanding of civic engagement.

Easy to understand, multilingual, actionable resources can support a wider group of individuals in civic engagement and offer representation for emerging and small and mid-size farmers in Minnesota’s decision-making spaces. IATP will use a participatory process to design the structure of a Minnesota Farm and Food Systems Civic Engagement 101 set of resources.

The partners will then develop these materials with input from our member organizations. The funding will build on MinneAg's initial success, providing key communications support to highlight successes, provide educational resources and engagement opportunities, and work toward a food system that is more equitable and better reflects the needs of all of Minnesota’s communities.

Recipient : Friends of Family Farmers, Junction City, OR Project Type : Planning & Design Total Project Amount : $264,360 The Capital Assistance for Local Farmers (CALF) Oregon Project The purpose of this Friends of Family Farmers (FoFF) Capital Assistance for Local Farmers (CALF) Oregon project is to bring together government grant makers, conventional lenders, and USDA resources with trusted, farmer-serving regionally and culturally specific nonprofits in their communities to create more opportunities for small, highly diversified, local market farmers.

This project is aided by two sets of partners.

The technical assistance (TA) partners are a group of trusted, farmer-serving nonprofit entities around the state who share FoFF’s desire to better connect the farmers in their network to available resources, including the Friends of Family Farmers, Black Farm Bureau, Adelante Mujeres, Willamette 6 Farm and Food Coalition, High Desert Farm and Food Alliance, Coast Fork of the Willamette Watershed Council, Rogue Valley Food System Network, North Coast Food Web, Rogue Farm Corps, and Oregon Community Food System Network.

The Funding Partners who make up state and federal agencies and conventional lending institutions, including the USDA Farm Service Agency, AgWest, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Jackson Soil and Water Conservation District, and Oregon Department of Agriculture.

The 15-member community of practice will meet quarterly to increase service provider knowledge, discuss barriers that keep more than 13,000 farmers served by the TA partners apprised of upcoming deadlines, and provide guidance on making applications competitive.

The information from the community of practice will be supplemented with network research and consolidated into a Network Resource Inventory which will easily lay out existing programs and resources, providing direction for farmers and avoiding program duplication for service providers.

This information, along with producer feedback through partner focus groups and a project-wide survey, will be used to deliver a report on the gaps and barriers experienced by current applicants and the groups’ recommendations for future collaboration. The report will serve as a basis for designing new technical assistance to fill that need across Oregon.

Recipient : NorthEast Washington Educational Service District 101, Spokane, WA Project Type : Farm to Institution Total Project Amount : $1,272,827 Regional Farm to School Program Development in Washington State Since 2019, small rural School Food Authorities (SFAs) across northeast Washington have engaged in building a robust Regional Farm to School (F2S) Program.

This program involves a wide variety of community partners including SFAs, rural economic development corporations, food hubs, producers, processors, and state and local government agencies.

The Regional Food Systems Partnership grant will allow these stakeholders to: 1) replicate Regional F2S Program models in four additional regions of Washington State, 2) continue to build up F2S activities in northeast Washington, and 3) work synergistically with other state nutrition programs to incorporate local foods into a larger network of school nutrition programming.

Northeast Washington Educational Service District (NEWESD) 101 will work collaboratively with the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) to develop these new Regional F2S Programs and support local producers.

To begin this process, NEWESD 101 will hire and train three Regional F2S Coordinators to work in four additional Educational Service Districts (ESDs) in central Washington (ESDs 105, 123, and 171) and southwest Washington (ESD 113).

ESD partners will pair Regional F2S Coordinators with existing Team Nutrition mentors, who have been working for the past year to strengthen school nutrition programs in 22 small, rural SFAs across Washington State. These districts will now be able to enhance their school meal programs by partnering with community producers and processors to source more local food items.

Regional F2S Coordinators will support the development of the regional farm to school model, bringing fresh local products to more school cafeterias. 7 Recipient: REAP Food Group, Inc., Madison, WI Project Type: Planning