[M]ore than $265,000 of support will go to local food initiatives in St. Albans after a Trump administration executive order to promote agriculture and rural prosperity in America.
The help will come from the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Northern Border Regional Commission. The funding is part of a federal initiative called “Local Foods, Local Places” that helps communities reinvest in existing neighborhoods and improve quality of life as they develop the local food economy.
Koi Boynton, co-director of Northwest Healthy Roots Collaboratives, noted Local Foods, Local Places was established in 2014, a product of the Obama administration.
“But it’s wonderful the current administration continues to support it,” Boynton said.
The support comes in the form of assessment, training, and a daylong community action planning session from the federal agencies to help the St. Albans community develop local food initiatives. Those programs have been valued at $265,000.
The Northwest Healthy Roots Collaborative is the organization that will facilitate the new initiative. Boynton said they don’t want to be the owner of the project, but rather just help get the initiative off the ground.
The project will be about increasing local food access, according to Boynton, and could include a food co-op or a food hub model where they aggregate and move food. She said the outside support will help them decide how to proceed.
“Local Foods, Local Places will help our stakeholders, such as the community in St. Albans, with revitalization efforts through the development of local agriculture, improved food access and economic development,” said EPA Acting Regional Administrator Deb Szaro in a statement.
St. Albans City was one of 15 communities chosen from more than 70 applications for the project. Since 2014, 93 cities have received money to support local food enterprises like farmers markets, community gardens and cooperative grocery stores.
“We see this as a great step in better connecting local consumers to the farms that surround them and building a vibrant local food system for our region,” Boynton said.
