On September 17, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced the award of block grants to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops. Specialty crops are defined as fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops, including floriculture.

The 54 grants total approximately $55 million, funding 827 projects in fifty states. Funding supports the competitiveness of specialty crops and America's specialty crop farmers. Washington State Department of Agriculture received $3,744,666.16, the third highest award recipient following California and Florida. Puget Sound Food Network (PSFN) was granted $95,009 of Washington's award.

 

The beneficiaries of PSFN, a project of Northwest Agriculture Business Center, are primarily small to mid-sized specialty crop producers of fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, herbs, and nursery crops. The approximately 10,000 farms and 4 million eaters in Northwestern Washington are the target beneficiaries of PSFN through increasing direct market opportunities close to production, building lasting relationships in the community, preserving sustainable food production close to home for prosperity as well as positive environmental impacts. The economic impacts of PSFN will be felt immediately through direct farm sales. PSFN focuses on connecting buyers and sellers of all sizes by creating or enhancing production, processing, distribution, sales, and marketing opportunities for specialty crop producers.

 

The ultimate goal of PSFN is to build a strong food community in the Puget Sound region by being the liaison for specialty crop producers and buyers to connect and conduct business. By offering a central online network space complimented by personal relationships with account managers, PSFN will strengthen food community connections across a regional, values-based supply chain, and increase market access and profits of regional specialty crop producers.

For more information about PSFN or to join, please visit www.psfn.org or contact Lucy Norris, Project Manager, at lucy@psfn.org. Summaries of all USDA SCBGP awards can be viewed at www.ams.usda.gov/scbgp.  

On July 21, 2010, City of Seattle-King County Public Health announced the 2010 award recipients who applied for $8.9 million in Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) grants.  Award recipients represent many talented and passionate local organizations committed to increasing healthy choices for King County residents.

 

Seattle Human Services Department (SHSD) was awarded two HEAL (Healthy Eating/Active Living) grants and Puget Sound Food Network (PSFN) is contracting  with SHSD to participate in a project focused on connecting local food to Seattle's least served communities through the Congregate/Home Delivered Meal Program.  The goal of this project is to make healthy foods, preferably local farm products, affordable for senior congregate and home-delivered meals and child care centers by cooperatively purchasing fresh local produce through a Farm-to-Table partnership.

 

Aging and Disability Services will set up regular Farm-to-Table coordination meetings to create a strategy for and track the progress of the cooperative purchase of local produce from local farmers. Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) will assess senior meal provider capacity to plan seasonal menus, store and prepare fresh produce. WSDA will also train meal site managers as needed. WSDA and PSFN will work together to identify and link meal program purchasers to ethnically diverse farmers who have produce available at an affordable price. Clean Greens Farm will expand growing capacity within existing land to offer produce that meets meal provider cost and produce specifications. Meal providers will purchase processing equipment as needed, facilitate staff training, and pilot test cooperative purchasing at 2 to 3 meal sites. After the pilot test, meal providers will implement cooperative purchasing for home-delivered and congregate meals. WSDA will assess the feasibility of expansion of cooperative purchasing to ELFS child care centers.

 

PSFN will serve as "benevolent broker" for a 12-month term starting in November, and act as PSFN's project liaison working directly with local food producers on behalf of senior meal services, childcare centers and public school sites identified by Seattle Human Services in underserved South Seattle.  It will be PSFN's responsibility to directly identify local food sources, negotiate pricing and create solutions that will lead to a richer understanding to create opportunities for expansion and modeling for similar models in other cities, especially underserved communities.  PSFN will be tasked with tracking and reporting our contributions to this project, identifying key obstacles, and creating new solutions for the future.  The full project's duration is twenty months starting this month.  

 

PSFN is proud to be engaged in this new partnership because it has enormous potential to make a positive impact on the health and sustainability of both urban and rural communities, while helping to preserve our rich farming traditions in Northwest Washington by creating diverse market opportunities for local food.

For more information about CPPW, it's goals and a full list of direct grant recipients, please visit http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/partnerships/CPPW.aspx.

Please contact Lucy Norris, PSFN Project Manager, at lucy@psfn.org for information related to PSFN's role in this important new project.

 

 

 

 

Pasture Raised Beef at Hit on Whidbey Island

 Whidbey Island Grown Pasture Raised Beef is made available to Island residents at The Goose Community Grocer in Langley. Shoppers at The Goose have had and will have a chance to sample the beef at several special samplings that have taken place and will continue to take place in front of the store throughout the year. The community has been very supportive of the program and has responded well with continuing purchases. The Island beef program was presented recently to a group of interested residents at the Island County Fair in Langley. Presenters were Maryon Attwood, John Albertsen and Gary Merritt. All in attendance were very interested and many expressed interest in purchasing the product.

 

 

 
Sustainable Connections Food and Farming Program along with NABC's Whatcom County office received a three-year $220,338 grant to support local and regional food system development. The grant will enable SC's Food and Farming Program to reach a larger market for local producers through targeted assessment, marketing, and promotion for specialty crops.