Farm To Food Pantry: New Budget Adds $50 Million To Nourish NY

NEW YORK — A program begun at the height of the coronavirus outbreak in New York, connecting farmers whose supply chains had broken with residents who were going hungry, will receive an additional $50 million infusion in the new state budget.

Nourish NY was started to support the state's agriculture industry and help people who lost their paychecks and were suddenly food-insecure. So far, the program has delivered 21 million pounds of food and helped more than 1 million families, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a Tuesday news briefing.

"When COVID hit, there were so many ancillary problems that developed that nobody even imagined," he said. "You had families who were out of work. Families who literally couldn't afford to buy food. Meanwhile, we had farms and producers in upstate New York who were struggling and who had supply chain problems, and their normal purchasers for their product were ending their purchasing."

SEE: Why Food Rots As Grocery Shelves Empty And Hungry Get Hungrier

So New York officials used to thinking about the agricultural sector in terms of economic development found themselves pivoting.

"You had farms upstate with surplus product. You had consumers downstate and in urban areas all across and rural areas all across the state who literally didn't have enough to eat. How do you put those two things together?" Cuomo said. "Let's purchase the product that we are making and let's supply it to food banks that are feeding hungry and starving people across the state of New York. That's Nourish New York."

The program has spent $35 million so far on products in New York, Cuomo said, "30 percent was dairy, 30 percent was produce, 30 percent was meat and seafood. Five thousand distributors of food across the state. Four thousand farms have participated, so far. With this additional $50 million, we expect that to increase, so we're very excited."

Patch has partnered with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2021, about 42 million Americans may not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.