"In January of 2021, the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) partnered with Feeding Illinois, the Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB), and the Illinois Specialty Growers Association (ISGA) to conduct a feasibility study of a statewide Farm to Food Bank Program. Through interviews, surveys, focus groups, and pilot projects it became clear that a such a program would be welcomed by both the farming and food banking communities. While this is an ongoing research project, this report serves to demonstrate research efforts undertaken from December 2020 – February 2022 that have led to this conclusion along with identifying strengths, weaknesses, threats, opportunities, and recommendations for a statewide Farm to Food Bank program.
This report was prepared by ISTC for Feeding Illinois, the state association that represents the eight Feeding America-member food banks. Project contributors include the Illinois Farm Bureau, the Illinois Specialty Growers Association, and Illinois Farmers Market Association. Research done in this study was paid for by Feeding Illinois through a 50% match between the Feeding Illinois food banks and the U.S. Department of Agricultural (USDA) Farm to Food Bank grant.
Publications from ISTC TAP's Farm to Food Bank project. The project aims to connect food banks with farms to purchase products like fruits, vegetables, cheese, milk, meat, and eggs directly from farmers. The overall goal of the project is to identify and build a long-term market and infrastructure for Illinois farmers and Illinois food banks.
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