The $7.2 million is a restoration of the missing LFPA Plus funding.

Earlier this week, the Tennessee Dept. of Agriculture (TDA) told Food as a Verb that $7.2 million in funding – it's the restored LFPA Plus money – would reach Tennessee food banks in mid-August.

"We are currently working on the contracts," said Kim Doddridge, TDA's Public Information Officer. "We anticipate the contracts with food banks will begin on August 15, 2024, which means we expect there will be no gap in funding for the program or producers."

In April, the state legislature voted to restore $7.2 million in lost federal funding to Tennessee food banks, farmers and families after TDA missed multiple notification emails from the US Dept. of Agriculture announcing the second round of the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement, or LFPA Plus.

The new funding is called Farm to Food Bank, TDA said. Until now, many small farmers have been unsure when, how or if new contracts and funding were coming.

"It's not clear when the new funding is going to trickle in," Natalie Ashker Seevers, executive director of Tennessee Local Food, said recently.

For many Tennessee growers, it's peak season; the uncertainty of not-knowing has been difficult.

"It's causing so many issues here in middle Tennessee with farmers who planned and planted for the grants, and everything's going to be in harvest," she said. "This is having really, really serious implications for a lot of farmers."

According to Doddridge, TDA will administer the funding in similar ways as the original LFPA.

"We expect the process to be similar to how LFPA funding was administered and distributed," she said.

The $7.2 million comes from unspent American Rescue Plan redirected to TDA from other state budgets.

"The $7.2M is not coming from the TDA budget," Doddridge said. "Additional dollars were awarded to TDA’s budget from the State’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) allocation. This was from residual funds redirected from other state projects realizing savings and coming in under budget."

In 2022, TDA applied for LFPA funding; the following year, Tennessee received $8.2 million to distribute to our state's five food banks, which could purchase at retail prices produce, meat and eggs from Tennessee small farmers.

Across the US, 49 states and 28 tribes also participated.

That locally-grown, highly-nutritious food became a rare commodity and treasure for food bank families and clients, many of whom don't normally have access to fresh eggs, Tennessee honey or regional orchard apples.

LFPA was tremendously impactful, ultimately reaching 115 farms and 300 partner organizations across the state.

Locally, the Chattanooga Area Food Bank (CAFB) received $800,000 from the grant.

"We were able to work with seven farms and distribute food through 38 hunger relief partner organizations," said Jeannine Carpenter, chief communications officer for the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. "Eggs, beef, mountains of produce."

The following year, the USDA offered a second round of funding: LFPA Plus. As Food as a Verb reported, TDA repeatedly missed email notifications, ultimately never applying for the $7.2 million in potential LFPA Plus money.

Thanks to your civic voice, Carpenter's tireless advocacy and the beautiful bipartisan work of many state legislators, the $7.2 million was restored as part of the April budget vote.

(You can read our exclusive reporting here and here and here and here.)

Doddridge said TDA has changed its internal operations.

"We have reviewed our internal processes, increased the number of recipients for USDA notifications, and are in the process of centralizing grant application and management tasks," she said.

She continued: "Additionally, through in-person meetings and events and conferences, we are strengthening our relationships with regional, state, and federal partners so we can recognize and leverage future funding opportunities for food programs."

Currently, Food as a Verb is reviewing 700+ pages of internal documents and emails related to the LFPA Plus mishandling. We'll publish a larger report soon.

All photography by Sarah Unger (sarah@foodasaverb.com)

All design by Alex DeHart

All words by David Cook (david@foodasaverb.com)

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