U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a cooperative agreement with a Pacific Northwest Tribal government to promote economic opportunities.
USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service signed the cooperative agreement with the Yakama Nation Tribal Government under the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, according to a Sept. 29 news release. The Yakama Nation plans to purchase and distribute locally grown, produced and processed food from underserved producers via the program.
"USDA is excited to partner with Yakama Nation Tribal Government to promote economic opportunities for farmers and producers and to increase access to locally sourced, fresh, healthy and nutritious food in underserved communities," Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt said in the release. "The Local Food Purchase Cooperative Agreement Program will improve food and agricultural supply-chain resiliency and increase local food consumption around the country."
The announcement comes after American Rescue Plan authorized LFPA to preserve and enhance food resilience and agricultural supply chains. The program helps local, regional and underserved farmers by purchasing food produced within a given state or within 400 miles of delivery destination. USDA will award up to $400 million through non-competitive cooperative agreements with state and tribal governments, according to the news release.
"At this time, it's incredibly important to localize food chain distributions," Yakama Nation Farm Board Chairman Virgil Lewis said in the release. "Through COVID, we realized how sensitive the agricultural supply chain is and with the changing climate, it’s more important than ever to the Yakama Nation to be proactive in improving food security for us and local communities. We look forward to utilizing these LFPA grant funds to further our mission."
