Purchase and distribute local foodtargeting purchases from socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers

The new york state department of agriculture and markets will implementthe new york food for new york families program to create a moreresilient statewide food system that supports local farms and provideshigh quality, nutritious food to communities facing food insecurity. Acompetitive process will award funds to eligible applicants withexperience in food procurement and distribution for the purpose ofprocuring local, domestic product and distributing IT to underservedcommunities. Successful applicants will use 67% of funds to purchasefood directly from new york state producers, with an emphasis ondeveloping and expanding relationships with socially disadvantagedproducers. Additional funds may be used for program development thatsupports farm production capacity, creates or expands food distributionservices, and/or improves food access. A second pool of funding will beawarded through a non-competitive application process to eligibleapplicants for similar projects supporting local farm and food systemdevelopment, purchasing of local, domestic farm products and delivery ofproducts to underserved communities. Quarterly performance reports willbe submitted to capture the number of producers, socially disadvantagedfarmers and ranchers, distribution sites, and underserved locations aswell as funds expended for each category. Annual reports will providepercentages of new marketing opportunities and purchases distributedbeyond current food distribution networks. Purchase local, domesticagricultural products from new york producers, with an emphasis onpurchasing from socially disadvantaged producers, to create new marketopportunities. Create new, or expand existing, models of fooddistribution that target underserved populations who cannot sufficientlyaccess food through traditional food assistance and distributionnetworks. This program will benefit new york state producers andprocessors of agricultural products through direct purchasing.additionally, socially disadvantaged producers will benefit fromtechnical support services to increase capacity to grow and sell intonew markets. IT is expected that 2,000 producers and processors willbenefit from the new york food for new york families program. Therecipient plans to subaward funds to vendors and producers.