LFPA Grants Red Wing Food Shelf & Farmers Mkt

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has awarded $3.53 million in Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) grants to 33 organizations, local units of government, and tribal nations throughout the state, including a pair of non-profits in Red Wing.

LFPA funding is intended to support programs involving procurement of local or regional food from socially disadvantaged producers and the distribution of that food to underserved communities.

Red Wing Food Shelf applied for the grant and was awarded $140,000 to be spent on poultry over the course of 2 years. They are working with Tree-Range Farms out of Northfield for this project.

The Red Wing Farmers’ Market Association received a $96,000 grant to provide locally grown nutritious food, mostly fruits and vegetables, and distribute it to underserved people in Red Wing.  Market manager Sara George, says they will deliver 60 boxes of food per week to Jordan Towers for 40 weeks at no charge.   

The Village Agricultural Cooperative and Southeast Minnesota Food Rescue and Redistribution in Rochester also received money from this round of grants.