The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Cowlitz Indian Tribe in Washington announced a cooperative agreement to assist the Tribe in purchasing and distributing locally grown, produced and processed food from underserved producers.
The agreement, signed under USDA's Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, was announced by they department's Agricultural Marketing Service in a Nov. 9 news release.
"USDA is excited to partner with the Cowlitz Indian Tribe to promote economic opportunities for farmers and producers and to increase access to locally sourced, fresh, healthy and nutritious food in underserved communities," USDA 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."
"Under LFPA, the Tribe will use its competitive procurement process to purchase fresh, healthy foods from local producers and distribute them to Tribal elders and local American Indian and Alaska Native members," Cowlitz Indian Tribe Chairwoman Patty Kinswa-Gaiser said in the news release. "The Tribe is thankful to be a recipient of the LFPA grant. We look forward to establishing partnerships with local producers to help increase fresh, traditional food access for our Tribal and American Indian and Alaska Native communities."
USDA's Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program provides up to $900 million to non-competitive cooperative agreements with an eye toward enabling state, territory and Tribal governments, according to the news release. In turn, the program also supports local, regional and underserved food producers and seeks to maintain or improve supply chain resiliency by purchasing food produced within 400 miles of the delivery destination.
