Supporting Illinois farmers and communities

Aug 18, 2023

The Farm to Food Bank Program Act allows farmers to donate products directly to food banks

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A new law in Illinois will provide farmers with extra distribution opportunities while supporting food banks serving communities in need.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Farm to Food Bank Program Act into law on Aug. 3, which creates mechanisms for acquiring and distributing fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and poultry, dairy and eggs.

“Foods shall be surplus, seconds, or market-grade quality levels and must be safe for consumption,” the bill says.

The program ran on a pilot beginning in 2021 using grant funding from the USDA that helped farmers offset the costs of harvesting, packaging and transporting food.

During that time, almost 2.5 million pounds of food moved through the program.

But farmers identified the lack of a centralized donation program as a barrier to participating in the program.

This bill makes the program a permanent fixture and will be administered by the Illinois Department of Human Services with $2 million for 2024.

"Illinois farmers are producing some of the finest food in the country, and now that produce, dairy, and meat can go directly to Illinoisans struggling with food insecurity," Gov. Pritzker said in a statement. "It's good for our farmers' bottom line, it's good for those in need, and it's good for our state—a win for everyone in Illinois."

Part of the program’s administration includes the formation of the Farm to Food Bank Advisory Council.

The group will include three representatives from the ag industry and one member from an academic institution with expertise in agricultural systems.

The council will help build relationships between the state ag sector and the emergency food system, review and provide plan feedback, and promote the program.

Video: Making budget friendly pig feed on a small livestock farm

I am going to show you how we save our farm money by making our own pig feed. It's the same process as making our cattle feed just with a slight adjustment to our grinder/ mixer that makes all the difference. We buy all the feed stuff required to make the total mix feed. Run each through the mixer and at the end of the process we have a product that can be consumed by our pigs.

I am the 2nd generation to live on this property after my parents purchased it in 1978. As a child my father hobby farmed pigs for a couple years and ran a vegetable garden. But we were not a farm by any stretch of the imagination. There were however many family dairy farms surrounding us. So naturally I was hooked with farming since I saw my first tractor. As time went on, I worked for a couple of these farms and that only fueled my love of agriculture. In 2019 I was able to move back home as my parents were ready to downsize and I was ready to try my hand at farming. Stacy and logan share the same love of farming as I do. Stacy growing up on her family's dairy farm and logans exposure of farming/tractors at a very young age. We all share this same passion to grow a quality/healthy product to share with our community. Join us on this journey and see where the farm life takes us.