Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE 6/5/18

Proponents of expanding local and regional food systems are hoping the Senate farm bill will provide robust funding for programs that help finance investments in infrastructure, marketing and promotional activities and training — particularly after the House version didn't extend mandatory funding for a handful of the initiatives. That includes the competitive matching grant known as the Value-Added Producer Grant, for which Congress allocated about $60 million for the duration of the 2014 farm bill.

Scott Thelman, a first-generation farmer in northeast Kansas who grows produce, specialty grains, hay and alfalfa on more than 1,000 acres, told POLITICO that funding for the value-added grant program should be increased because it can help tackle one of the biggest barriers to expanding local and regional food systems: a lack of infrastructure, such as cold storage, packing houses and distribution centers.

"I not only have to plant, grow and harvest the crops, but also take them back to my farm where we have a packing house," Thelman said. "Growers in California can plant 50 acres of spinach and take it right to a packer or canning plant. So in the Midwest, at least this area of Kansas, this type of infrastructure is really lacking. It would be so vital to the long-term success of regional food systems."

Securing new legislation: Thelman is featured in a report, published today and commissioned by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, that highlights success stories in Kansas and aims to build the case for including the Local FARMS Act — S. 1947 (115), H.R. 3941 (115) — in the Senate farm bill. The proposal would establish an overarching, $80-million-a-year local and regional food economy development program that would merge several current initiatives, as well as invest in food-safety training, make it easier for schools to procure fresh products, and authorize pilots designed to increase access to healthy food.

Debbie Bearden, who raises beef cattle in Allen County, Kan., and is active in her local food system, told POLITICO that an initiative known as Double Up Food Bucks is critical to expanding access to healthy food. Food stamp benefits are doubled when they are spent on fresh produce at farmers markets and grocery stores that participate in the program. Bearden said that in her community over three years, matching funds have grown from just under $400 to more than $2,500 per season. The House farm bill would increase mandatory funding for the program that finances Double Up Food Bucks — known as the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Grant Program, or FINI — to $275 million.

Lack of labor stunts growth: Both Bearden and Thelman said another obstacle to expanding local and regional food systems is America's chronic farm labor shortage — something the farm bill is unlikely to address.