Public Affairs
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2022 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today announced it has signed a cooperative agreement with the Spirit Lake Tribe under the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA). Through LFPA, the tribe seek to purchase and distribute locally grown, produced, and processed food from underserved producers.
“USDA is excited to partner with Spirit Lake Tribe to promote economic opportunities for farmers and producers and to increase access to locally sourced, fresh, healthy, and nutritious food in underserved communities,” said USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt. “The Local Food Purchase Cooperative Agreement Program will improve food and agricultural supply-chain resiliency and increase local food consumption around the country.”
With the LFPA funds, the tribe will procure domestic and tribal foods from underserved producers and distribute them to underserved and impoverished communities. The purchased foods will include bison, grains, produce, proteins, and frozen meals that include traditional foods from a Tribal owned vendor. This program will allow communities to access healthier meals that incorporate traditional foods.
“We are happy to be a part of promoting tribal nutrition security, keeping and building relationships with tribal farmers, ranchers and producers,” said Douglas Yankton, Spirit Lake Tribal Chairman. “I truly believe no one knows the needs of our tribal communities better than the tribe and the people we serve. Despite the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic presented the tribe over the past three years, we will continue to show our resiliency as tribal members. Our congressional leaders made sure that Indian Country was not an afterthought through tribal allocations in the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan Act, both of which provided seed funding for our Local Food Purchase Agreement.”
USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program provides up to $900 million through non-competitive cooperative agreements to enable state, territory and tribal governments to support local, regional and underserved producers, and maintain or improve food and agricultural supply chain resiliency through the purchase of food produced within the state or within 400 miles of delivery destination. Funding for the program comes from the American Rescue Plan and the Commodity Credit Corporation.
AMS looks forward to continuing to sign agreements under this innovative program that allows state and tribal governments to procure and distribute local and regional foods and beverages that are healthy, nutritious, and unique to their geographic area.
More information about the program is available on AMS’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program webpage.
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