MARYVILLE, Tenn. — Food banks and local farmers are going to be heavily impacted this year after the Tennessee Department of Agriculture missed a deadline for a federal grant.
The grant is part of the Local Food Purchase Cooperative Agreement Program. The purpose of the program is to increase purchases of local foods from Tennessee’s underserved farmers and producers and get food to those who need it most, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is meant to help local farmers and in turn, help food banks and food pantries.
Organizations, like Second Harvest, would buy produce from local farmers in Tennessee to then use for food pantries in the state.
Elaine Streno is the executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee. The organization works with 600 different partners and serves almost 1.5 million meals per month. The organization is dependent on donations and funding from the public.
Money from the community or federal government is important. By late November 2023, the money provided through the LFPA grant helped food banks buy from 130 local producers.
“We were thrilled to be able to reach out to them,” Streno said. “Farming is tough, and they all knew it was a guarantee. You’re guaranteed to have this much funding.”
All five Feeding America affiliates in Tennessee were looking forward to helping even more farmers through the LFPA grant. However, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture missed the deadline to apply for the grant. The USDA won’t extend the deadline for the state.
“We have appealed to the legislators and the governor’s office," Streno said. "We have appealed to every entity in Nashville to help us get this funding back.”
Streno said she hopes the federal government will consider the impact this grant would continue to have on farmers and Tennessee. The funding will run out in August and the state will have to wait two years to apply for the grant again, if it is still around.
10News reached out to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and they answered the following questions:
How did this happen or how did this deadline fall through the cracks?
"We announced our participation in the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program on October 14, 2022, facilitating distribution of $8.2 million in LFPA funding. We partnered with five regional food banks to implement the grant, which resulted in more than 115 farms providing fresh food to more than 300 organizations. When TDA initially applied for and received LFPA funding, there was no indication at that time that a second round of funding would be available. Once we learned about LFPA+, we applied for an extension that was ultimately denied. We contacted and met in person with the regional food banks to inform them of the situation and to discuss opportunities of support in the future."
Is there any other funding or grants the Department of Agriculture can receive in lieu of this grant?
"TDA is always seeking new sources of grant funding. TDA assisted the Tennessee Department of Education to secure a Local Food for Schools grant that could potentially help farmers sell to school systems. This program is identical to the LFPA with specific focus on school districts. Through TDA’s Commodities program, 20.3 million pounds of food were distributed to food banks and $51.6 million in food were provided to 128 schools in FY23. This program remains a highlight of TDA’s connection to communities."
How many funding notifications did the USDA send, and did the state miss them all?
"We are checking with our USDA contacts to determine how their notifications were sent and who would have received them."
Is there any kind of Dept. investigation to look into how this deadline was missed?
"We have reviewed our internal processes and increased the number of recipients for USDA notifications, thereby strengthening our relationships with regional, state, and federal partners so we can recognize and leverage future funding opportunities."