Kankakee Times

In a May 24 Facebook post, State Rep. Jason Bunting (R-Dwight) shared information on a Farm to Food Bank program. Bunting shared a link to a Farm Week Now article about a legislative bill that supported the permanency of the Farm to Food Bank program. 

The bill would establish the Farm to Food Bank program within the Department of Human Services. He also provided more detail about the goals and beginnings of the program. 

"The Farm to Food Bank pilot program has been administered by Feeding Illinois and was launched in 2021 with grant funding from USDA," Bunting continued on Facebook. "The program connects food banks with Illinois farmers to establish a pipeline of fresh food for food pantries throughout the state. It also provides a secondary market for products that might be left in the field or trees, or blemished products."

Feeding Illinois outlines the priorities of the Farm to Food Bank pilot program in this way.

"The Farm to Food Bank Program's overarching goal is to build a long lasting, sustainable, state-funded program that would create a relationship of farms working directly with food banks to increase food access, economic dollars within the state, profitability for Illinois farmers, community revitalization and reduce food waste," the website says. 

Feeding Illinois launched the “Farm to Food Bank Initiative” to make it easier for food banks to connect with farms to purchase products like fruits, vegetables, cheese, milk, meat, and eggs directly from farmers. They undertook a survey and solicited feedback from farmers to find out what infrastructure improvements were necessary, what crops were available, which farms were interested, and what costs farmers paid to get products delivered. They accepted seconds – imperfect produce that would not sell in a market location.

House Bill 2879 establishes the Illinois Farm to Food Bank Program within the Department of Human Services to help expand the availability of nutritious, locally grown, raised, or processed foods for Illinois's emergency food system. The bill lays out what the program is meant to do and articulates that it is subject to appropriations, but must dedicate no less than 75% of available funds to acquisition and distribution of food. 

The program is required by this bill to acquire and distribute agricultural products from farmers and aggregators to the state’s emergency food system, and that the program is to provide grants to help the emergency food system to increase capacity for storage, transportation or distribution of food products to underserved areas. It directs the program to focus on fruits, vegetables, meat and poultry, dairy, and eggs produced in Illinois. The food acquired in this program shall be “surplus, seconds, or market-grade quality levels” that is safe for consumption.