WASHINGTON [2/7/2024] – Today, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith (both D-MN), members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, announced federal funding to strengthen the middle portions of Minnesota’s food supply chain. These funds will help small farms and small food businesses access more customers and help consumers find more locally-grown goods – oftentimes at lower cost. The funding is made possible through the American Rescue Plan, legislation both Klobuchar and Smith supported.
“To keep prices low at the grocery store, we need to invest in our food supply chain to make it resilient from disruptions and bottlenecks,” said Klobuchar. “These grants will strengthen the infrastructure needed to bring food from farm to table, support farmers as they expand into new markets, and deliver technical skills training for local food businesses.”
“Farmers in Minnesota know firsthand the vulnerabilities of our food supply chain and the importance of making it more resilient in the long term,” said Smith. “This funding will help strengthen our food supply system and also expand opportunity for farmers in Minnesota and around the country by creating new and better markets for their products.”
This funding is one of many actions taken under the Biden Administration to expand processing capacity and increase competition in agriculture, making markets more accessible, fair, competitive and resilient for producers.
The four-year partnership between the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and United States Department of Agriculture will bolster the middle of Minnesota’s food supply chain, meaning more opportunities for producers to sell their goods, better infrastructure for food businesses to operate with, and more locally grown options for Minnesotans at the grocery store. The projects will help compile, process, store, transport, wholesale, and distribute regionally grown foods to bring them market more efficiently. The funding will also support business development services to help Minnesota companies.
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