Popular locally grown food program needs more funding, food banks tell legislators

Despite Nevada’s status as the driest state in the union, the state is home to 3,400 farms that produce everything from cattle to dairy and tomatoes to coffee. 

Now thanks to a bill passed at the height of the pandemic in 2021, Nevada has purchased and distributed about 2.3 million pounds of locally sourced food to food banks in the state since the start of the program, amounting to $3.5 million worth of food purchases from local farmers, ranchers, and processors. 

But unless the state receives more funding, food banks and local producers may lose the program, Julian Joseph Goicoechea, the director of the Nevada Department of Agriculture, told lawmakers last week.

The Home Feeds Nevada program gives food banks the ability to order and distribute locally grown produce — all paid in full using state funds. Since then, the program has come a long way from its first order and delivery of 600 pounds of tomatoes to the Las Vegas Three Square Food Bank in 2022.

Like many other states, small-scale farmers in Nevada faced a huge loss of sales during the pandemic. The Nevada Department of Agriculture, which runs the program, says the initiative was created to feed communities in need, while also bolstering local agriculture and rural economies.

State officials said the program continues to increase in popularity with small and medium sized producers and processors in the state. Many of these producers now depend on the program to keep their farms going, according to Goicoechea, the director of the Nevada Department of Agriculture.

The program was initially funded using $2 million in state funds from the American Rescue Plan in 2022, but once those funds are depleted the Nevada Department of Agriculture will hit a funding cliff unless additional funding is gifted, granted, or donated. As of January, the program has yet to receive any additional funds to keep the program afloat, said Goicoechea.

“These dollars, I’m not gonna lie to you, but we’re trying to stretch them out, so we don’t see a fiscal cliff before we get to another legislative session and seek additional funding,” Goicoechea told lawmakers on the Joint Interim Standing Committee on Natural Resources last week.

Food bank operators urged lawmakers to continue funding the program, which has allowed them to offer fresh meat and vegetables to vulnerable communities in the state.

Beth Martino, the President and CEO at Three Square Food Bank in Las Vegas, said groceries have significantly increased over the last four years. 

“We are certainly seeing that reflected in what we do at Three Square and with our partners,” Martino said.

The food bank has received more than a million pounds of food through the Home Feeds Nevada program since it began. The program has been essential to the food bank being able to provide vulnerable Nevadans high quality protein, produce, and dairy produced in Nevada.

“The acquisition of protein is incredibly helpful for us. These are three products that are in high demand and really help us provide nutritionally sound items to the neighbors that are coming to our food pantries,” Martino said.

“Our hope is that when we’ve exhausted some of the current sources of funding, that we can identify other ways to fund those programs,” Martino continued.

Nicole Lamboley, the president and CEO at Food Bank of Northern Nevada, said she’s seen a similar rise in demand for the food bank in northern Nevada.

Food insecurity is 15.2% in Nevada, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The state is ranked 8th nationally in overall food insecurity rates.

“We hear from our clients and our neighbors how important it is that they receive locally produced food. They too desire to have the same type of food we all want in our pantries and in our refrigerators, and they want the high quality food that we see coming through the Home Feeds Nevada program,” Lamboley said.

The department is now accepting applications from local farmers, ranchers, food producers and processors interested in selling food to fight food insecurity and from storage and transportation providers to help aggregate and transport food. Application forms for the program are available on the NDA website.