DELAWARE - The Delaware Department of Agriculture awarded $665,872 to 12 projects to strengthen the local food system and supply chain through the First State Food System Program.
The First State Food Program is managed by the Delaware Council on Farm and Food Policy and is meant to help show and strengthen the connection between food security, health, nutrition and food systems and processing. Funding is granted to groups in Delaware that work to positively impact food processing and food distribution into the community.
The program began in 2022 and has given $350,000 community food access projects and $500,000 to improving food processing capacity.
In the program's first cycle of funding, T.A. Farms used its funding for a poultry revamping project which allowed the farm to process more birds per hour which will allow them to give consumers fresher products.
“We would process roughly 450 birds in about five hours with our old system. Our new system can process about 700 birds in the same amount of time,” producer Elizabeth Carter said. “Especially during our holiday season, this allows us to process the birds efficiently, allowing for a fresher product.”
The second round of funding will be awarded to projects that focus on food processing, distribution, community access, and food production. 50 percent of funding is going to Delaware farms and 34 percent is going to community organizations.
The projects awarded during the second round of funding are:
Bennett Orchards LLC
Marvelous Produce
Powers Farm
Food Bank of Delaware
Fifer Orchards
Dittmar Family Farms LLC
D & J Custom Cutting
TA Farms LLC
Love-in-Deed Community Development
La Red Health Center
Teach a Person to Fish Society
Wilmington Alliance
The application for the last round of funding will be opened by Delaware Council on Farm and Food Policy early February 2023.
