Every week in San Diego County, thousands of families, seniors, and veterans turn to the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank for help putting nutritious meals on their table. Last year, nearly 45% of all food distributed by the Food Bank was fresh produce.

Now, Congress has the opportunity to strengthen local food systems and expand access to fresh, nutritious food by passing H.R. 4782 – Local Farmers Feeding Our Communities Act and S. 2338 – Strengthening Local Food Security Act.

If passed, these bills would:

• Provide fresh, nutritious food—including seafood, produce, meat, eggs, dairy, and poultry—from local producers to working families via food banks and other food distributors
• Support regional agriculture by providing consistent market opportunities for local farmers, fishers, and ranchers
• Authorize the USDA to purchase local food from small, mid-sized, beginning, and veteran producers

These programs connect nutritious food to those who need it most while reinvesting in the local agriculture economy.  These types of programs are proven solutions that increase access to nutritious food while creating reliable market opportunities for local farmers and food producers. 

A past program, called Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA) allowed a food bank to purchase locally grown food for its community, distributed via the food bank.  The San Diego Food Bank distributed more than 900 fresh produce boxes each week through this program, reaching neighborhoods across San Diego County and totaling nearly 540,000 pounds of food distributed per year sourced from local farms through this program.

Take Action: Urge your member of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 4782 and S. 2338 today.