The State of New York will give $25 million in emergency funding to stock the state’s food bank in what it is calling the “Nourish New York” Initiative.
The aim is to connect the state’s food banks, which have seen as much as a 200 percent increase in demand in some counties, with farmers who have been forced to get rid of excess product.
“We have people downstate who need food; we have farmers upstate who can’t sell their product. We have to put those two things together,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said at his press conference Monday.
New York Farm Bureau President David Fisher called Cuomo’s announcement much-needed good news for the state’s farmers.
“More needs to be done to support all New Yorkers. No farmer wants to dispose of the food they produce, but few farms can process and package their raw commodities, like milk, into products that can be purchased or donated to those in need. We know out of state products like apples and potatoes are being purchased rather than supporting our farmers here in the state who themselves have been impacted by COVID-19,” he said. “Today’s announcement will provide an additional pathway to move more nutritious, New York produced food from our farms to the dinner table, which will benefit everyone involved.”