Ag department announces news programs

By: 
Staff Writer

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced significant investments to support urban agriculture, including $43.1 million for grants and cooperative agreements as well as six new urban county committees to help deliver key USDA programs to urban producers.
Specifically, USDA is investing $10.2 million in new cooperative agreements to expand compost and food waste reduction efforts and $14.2 million in new grants to support the development of urban agriculture and innovative production projects. Additionally, $18.7 million will fund 75 grant proposals from the 2021 application cycle, which was oversubscribed.
“Investing in urban agriculture innovations helps us build a fairer, more transparent food system and promote equity by increasing nutrition security and economic opportunity in underserved communities,” said Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Chief Terry Cosby. “These projects will help urban farmers create new, more affordable, and better local market options and help urban communities produce fresh and healthy food locally, reducing food waste while building nutrient rich compost.”
The investments will build on USDA’s Food Systems Transformation Framework unveiled earlier this month. The goals of the Food System Transformation Framework include:
-Building a more resilient food supply chain that provides more and better market options for consumers and producers while reducing carbon pollution.
-Creating a fairer food system that combats market dominance and helps producers and consumers gain more power in the marketplace by creating new, more and better local market options.
-Making nutritious food more accessible and affordable for consumers.
-Emphasizing equity by creating wealth that stays in small towns and underserved communities.
USDA’s Farm Service Agency is also starting up six more urban county committees, which help deliver farm loans, disaster assistance, safety net and conservation programs.
“Urban county committees promote equity by giving urban producers a voice in creating and implementing policy and developing and designing programs specific to urban producers,” FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux said. “These new urban county committees will work to encourage and promote urban agriculture and address areas such as food and program access, community engagement and food security.”

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