Background
There has recently been a tremendous growth of programs that aim to address small farm viability and food insecurity by connecting local farms to food access initiatives such as food banks and other grassroots efforts to address hunger. These “farm to food assistance” programs are taking place across the country, with many experiencing growth due to USDA’s recent $900M Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program. For the last three years, Wallace Center at Winrock International has been working with partners across the country to study and support these efforts. Read on for a summary of our work in this area and learn what we are planning for 2024
How to get involved
- Follow along with the F2FA Learning Lab, a small cohort of organizations implementing F2FA programming that will share learnings and best practices, be connected with technical advisors, and access financial resources to help them sustain their efforts.
- Check out the Farm to Food Assistance Resource Library. And add your own resources to the library by submitting them here.
- F2FA Discussion Group: Connect with other people working on F2FA value chains across the nation. Use the F2FA Discussion Group to share news, resources, best practices, and work through common challenges related to F2FA programming. (To leave comments, you will need to login or register for an FSLN account at www.foodsystemsleadershipnetwork.org/register.)
- F2FA Community of Practice (CoP) Calls: Join our monthly CoP calls, facilitated in partnership with Eva Agudelo and Andy Ollove. These calls occur on the 2nd Thursday of the month at 12:00 pm PT/ 2:00 pm CT/ 3:00 pm ET and will provide you with a virtual space to connect with others, gain practical skills, and troubleshoot challenges. Register here!
- LFPA Connections Directory: Enter your contact information here and start connecting with partners and collaborators in your state and region who might also be involved in the LFPA. The directory can be found here.
Farm to Food Assistance Research
In 2022 the Wallace Center partnered with Duke World Food Policy Center to conduct a survey of over 300 Farm to Food Assistance (F2FA) programs across the country. The goal of the survey was to increase understanding of the impact, challenges, and key elements of the growing field of F2FA. The survey was designed with input from a brilliant group of experts with a range of perspectives on Farm to Food Assistance work to make sure the survey and results were relevant to the people involved in these programs. In summer of 2023 we released a national report capturing initial impacts, trends and recommendations for the USDA LFPA program and presented these findings, along with the stories of program implementers, to key audiences including USDA and Congressional staffers. This infographic represents a distillation key findings from the survey.
The Farm to Food Assistance Learning Lab is an action learning program that will generate support, coaching and technical assistance for 10 equity-centered F2FA programs across the country. Led by a stellar group of advisors – Allison Cohen, Pakou Hang, Erin Pirro, and Myra Marcellin, the Learning Lab will allow us to generate deep learning and insights into the programs and models of Learning Lab participants. In conjunction with this, we are developing ten narrative case studies to spotlight LFPA programs across the country that are leading collaborative initiatives focused on sustainability and supporting BIPOC and other “socially disadvantaged” farmers. These will be published in 2024.
Questions? Email [email protected] with ‘F2FA’ in the subject line.