U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service recently signed a cooperative agreement with the Forest County Potawatomi Community.

The agreement, signed under USDA's Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, was announced in a March 20 news release. This program will support the Tribe in purchasing and distributing locally grown, produced and processed food from underserved producers.

"USDA is excited to partner with Forest County Potawatomi Community 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 the agreement, the Tribe will partner with Bodwéwadmi Ktëgan, a Forest County Potawatomi-owned farm that provides a natural, sustainable source of fruits, vegetables and greens, as well as fish and other animal proteins, the release reported. The Bodwéwadmi Ktëgan farm is identified under the agreement as an underserved food producer, meeting the project's aims of supporting Native American families in Northern Wisconsin "struggling with the rising cost of food and strengthen tribal food sovereignty."

"Making sure that our Tribal members have healthy food options is the first step to ensuring that they can live healthy lifestyles," Forest County Potawatomi Chairman James Crawford said in the news release. "This new partnership will help us bring more locally sourced, healthy food products to our Tribal members which will encourage better lifestyles and better living."

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.