A federal program that that has brought more than $40,000 for local food purchases by Malheur County food banks will be cut in September.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently notified state officials of the change.
“These programs, created under the former administration via executive authority, no longer effectuate the goals of the agency,” a federal official wrote in a recent email to the Oregon Department of Education.
Lindsay Grosvenor, regional manager for the Oregon Food Bank-Southeast Oregon Services, said food from the program helped nearly 23,817 people in Malheur County get food. Grosvenor, these are the number of visits and that some visit food banks each month.
Sara Cross with Oregon Food Bank said the program has not only helped local producers provide families with food, it’s also allowed those farms to invest in themselves by opening up new, local markets to sell their goods.
The federal agency has now cut two programs that allowed states to purchase fresh food from local farmers for use in schools and food banks.
The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program brought more than $7 million to Oregon for 250 local farmers to grow food for area food banks.
Cross said the Agriculture Department would fund the grant through September.
Adrian farmers Blake and Kendee Ishida, owners of New Creation Farms – the sole farm involved with the grant in Malheur County – last year grew 15,507 pounds of fresh produce for the Oregon Food Bank in Ontario, according to Grosvenor.
According to Cross, New Creation Farms will have received $41,000 by the end of the grant in September. Kendee said it has helped that the grant program has paid them at the start of the growing season. She said the funding has helped with farming equipment, parts, seeds and other costs.
The funding at the start of the season, she said, has been a “confidence booster.”
Kendee said this year, throughout the New Creation growing season, the farm will provide weekly produce boxes to 35 families through the Adrian Food Pantry.
She said while the grant ends in September, New Creation would bring the weekly food boxes until October. Kendee said she is working with the Oregon Food Bank to continue selling produce and exploring other markets to sell their goods.
Kendee said she was sad to see the grant funding end because it’s boosted the farm’s capacity and allowed the operation to engage with the community.
She said their farm aims to create “community and sustainability.”
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