Lexington, KY - Two years ago, the General Assembly passed a bill that would take locally grown produce and put it in the coffers of state food banks. The bill established the Farm to Food Banks program within the Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA), but it was never funded.
That has not kept the project from coming to life, however. The program is based on a simple concept: Purchase surplus goods or produce that are considered "seconds" and unsalable from state producers and make it available to food banks located in Kentucky or those serving counties within the state.
Even without legislative funding, a pilot program conducted by God's Pantry Food Bank in 2009 and 2010 managed to purchase 370,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables from 145 different farmers.
Now, thanks to a grant from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund, the program has begun in earnest this year, being administered by the Kentucky Association of Food Banks (KAFB.)
Tamara Sandberg, KAFB executive director, said the program does two things. First, it gets good-quality local foods into the hands of families that rely on food banks to eat. Second, it puts money in the pockets of farmers for produce that would have likely not been sold.
"The idea was to use the funding to purchase produce that was grown in Kentucky but that wouldn't likely be sold on the market because of minor blemishes or sight discrepancies and then distribute that produce throughout Kentucky through the food bank network," she said.
Sandberg said that, in essence, the program is creating an expanded market for Kentucky producers. Unfortunately, that market is fueled by a need for food by a growing number of Kentuckians. According to information from the KAFB, "716,040 people in Kentucky are
food insecure,
meaning they don't always know where their next meal will come from."
That number represents nearly 17 percent of the state's overall population. Of the children in Kentucky, KAFB notes that one in four is not getting the amount of food he or she needs. Those figures are credited to a study by the Feeding America organization.
The KAFB also reports that food banks in the state are serving 620,100 clients annually, an increase of 83.5 percent since 2006.
Sandberg said that, so far this summer, the organization has purchased goods from more than 200 farmers, totaling more than 730,000 pounds, with the $163,000, 12-month ag development fund grant.
While the Farm to Food Banks program is helping to feed countless people, it may also keep growers in business.
"Some farmers have told me they would have to get out of growing produce if not for programs like this. If they can't move their No. 2 produce, they can't make it," Sandberg said. "Our program is helping them recoup their costs and recovers their losses."
Mitch Cooper, a farmer from Fayette County, said he would love to see the project fully funded because it has helped his operation tremendously.
Cooper sells much of his produce commercially through restaurants and wholesalers, but he said in this business, he can find himself sitting on top of 15,000 pounds of tomatoes at one time with only a few days to get rid of them.
"It's a good program, and it's really good for a guy like me to have a place to take this stuff," he said. "If I know I have a home for the excess I'm raising, then it kind of gives me a guarantee to know I can get rid of it. There's nothing worse than to pick 200 boxes of something and look at it and wonder what I'm going to do with it."
Cooper's farm is a diverse operation consisting of tobacco, cattle and about 10 acres of produce. He admits his vegetable business isn't the biggest, but it's big enough that he would likely have wasted products without this new market.
"The food bank program was a real blessing to me this year. If I knew for sure next year they would have the funding, I could put 20 acres out," he said.
Sandberg said the KAFD is looking for other funding sources to keep the program going and is pursuing several options.
"We are going to be very aggressive about looking for other sources of support because we really believe that the program has so many benefits, it's worth continuing," she said.
For farmers wishing to sell to the KAFB, they can call the agency to get a price for their specific product. The KAFB worked with University of Kentucky agriculture specialists to develop a price list for 23 different crops grown in the state. If the producer agrees with that price, a delivery is arranged, they invoice the agency and a check is sent. It's as simple as that, said Sandberg.
The KAFD consists of seven food banks serving all 120 counties in the state. They include Dare to Care Food Bank in Louisville, Ky.; Feeding America; Kentucky's Heartland Elizabethtown; God's Pantry in Lexington; Freestore Food Bank in Cincinnati, Ohio; Huntington Area Food bank in Huntington, W. Va.; Purchase Area Development District Food Bank in Mayfield, Ky.; and Tri-State Food Bank in Evansville, Ind.