Recent Investments Fuel Local Food Systems

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition highlight on LFPA success and policy recommendations

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) is a leading partner of Iowa Valley RC&D’s on federal policy reform in DC on behalf of Iowa and other states. They lead national policy advocacy that advances the sustainability of agriculture, food systems, natural resources, and rural communities. NSAC advocates for targeted infrastructure investments such as improve processing capacity, choice for farmers who are smaller or utilizing more sustainable feed and rearing techniques, increase the availability of localized and right-size cold storage for rural communities, and support middle of the supply chain aggregation and distribution activities. 

In their blog post titled, “Recent Investments Fuel Local Food Systems”, NSAC highlights how the Iowa LFPA program has increased accessibility of local foods and strengthened the supply chain with funding from the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and will continue to do so until 2025. The program has come full circle, since Iowa Valley RC&D Senior Program Director, Giselle Bruskewitz, and local food leader Kayla Koether, first heard about LFPA funding from NSAC coalition member communication. Iowa LFPA funding has provided an influx of activity throughout the state over the past two years but has exposed the further investments needed for the middle of the supply chain. The NSAC blog points to the Strengthening Local Processing Act and the Local Farms and Food Act as options for leveraging the successes of the Iowa LFPA to sustain program progress beyond current funding. Read the full post on NSAC’s website here and learn more about Iowa LFPA here.