In April 2020, Nourish New York was launched with the aim of responding to increased demand on state food banks as well as the financial hardship facing farmers affected by supply chain disruptions. supply. The program redirects surplus agricultural products to the populations who need them most through New York’s network of food banks.
What was originally created for COVID-19 relief will now be permanent thanks to a bipartisan bill that unanimously passed both houses of the New York legislature on Tuesday. The bill is now awaiting the signature of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. So far, the state has given the program $ 85 million to address food insecurity.
Sarah Salem of Dutchess Outreach, the county’s largest food access organization that has been in existence for almost 50 years, called the bill’s passage “transformational” for food banks and farmers in the area. Thanks to Nourish New York, Dutchess Outreach said she was able to distribute over 26,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables in her pantry to date – something she couldn’t have done otherwise.
Since the launch of Nourish New York over a year ago, 21 million pounds of surplus agricultural produce has been directly purchased from over 4,000 state farms and delivered to over 1.3 million people in the need. The number of food insecure people in New York City rose from 1.2 million to more than 2 million at the height of the pandemic, according to US census data. In Dutchess County, 40,000 residents are food insecure after COVID, up from 25,000 before the pandemic, according to Salem.
“As health disparities and food insecurity persist and worsen in our community, the need to increase access to healthier food has never been greater,” said Salem. “Thanks to Nourish New York, we were able to do this on the front lines in Dutchess County.”
Dutchess Outreach, the county’s largest food access organization, has distributed over 26,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to its pantry.
Sarah salemThe Nourish New York program provides public funding to food banks and other emergency food havens for the direct purchase of fresh fruits, vegetables, and dairy products from farmers across the state, which are then distributed to people and communities. food insecure families.
“One of the reasons this program is so successful is that it pays the farmers,” said Salem, who encourages focus on supporting BIPOC farmers, smallholder farmers and other heavily affected people. . “It creates relationships between farmers and food access organizations that can be long-standing. ”
Instead of just a transactional experience, Salem hopes the relationships established through the program will lend themselves to more lasting positive change, which she says could be fostered by Nourish New York’s tenure.
As a result of the pandemic, farmers in New York City have lost up to 50% of their market as schools, restaurants and hotels have suffered, according to a press release from the President’s Office for the Senate. agriculture, Michelle Hinchey – who co-sponsored the bill – making the program a “significant alternative stream of income for the state’s agricultural sector.”
The program was made permanent thanks to a bipartisan bill from Hinchey and MP Catalina Cruz. It was passed by the state Senate last March and by the state assembly on Tuesday.
At Dutchess Outreach, Nourish New York supports its free pantry for residents of Dutchess County and its free lunch box program that features hot lunches and dinners.
“A traditional pantry isn’t too used to being able to handle healthier, fresh farm food,” Salem said. “But now, thanks to Nourish New York and other programs that have emerged, we can. Customers can always count on quality food in their grocery packaging. They feel valued because of it. Dutchess Outreach feeds around 10,000 community members each year and provided over 167,000 meals last year alone.
Salem said food access organizations like Dutchess Outreach and farmers have been asking for programs like Nourish New York for some time. Its permanence is a solid first step, but Salem is also advocating for other positive changes in the industry, such as increasing the capacity of locally grown food in local pantries with better infrastructure. Salem says pantries need more cold storage facilities, improved cooking facilities, and better food processing and packaging equipment – all of which require additional investment of public funds.
Dutchess Outreach also has a mobile farmers market, urban farm and community garden that promote affordable land sovereignty.