Putting food on everyone’s plate is part of Gail Hepworth’s mission statement. She’s the co-owner of her family’s more than 200-year-old farm.
And she does mean everyone.
“There are neighborhoods that have systematically not been able to get food for a myriad of reasons,” she said.
It’ll be a little easier to get that farm-fresh food out, thanks to a new program from the Regional Food Bank of Northeast New York. They’ve launched a pilot micro purchasing program in Ulster County that will allow pantries to get more fresh produce directly from small farmers in underserved communities. Participating farmers will get $6,000 a month through the program.
“We’ve had a few pantries already who have said, ‘hey, we really can’t take more produce,'” said Food Bank CEO Tom Nardacci. “That’s a good thing. It’s a good thing when we supply them as much as they need and then we can move on to find other pantries.”
The program is being funded through the COVID-era Nourish New York initiative. State Senate Agriculture Chair Michelle Hinchey says she wants to see more investment in the program.
“It’s critical and quite frankly, we’ve always been pushing to scale it up,” she said. “We want to fund it at $75 million. That’s been a push. I think now, it’s never been more important.”
Hepworth called it a win-win; pantries keeping healthy food stocked and farmers get a little help from doing so.
“Whether we’re giving it away or we’re getting money, clearly getting the money part is really a path to sustainability,” she said. “But the entire Hepworth employee from the office to the fields are part of making this a success.”