Farm to Institution
Stable, Reliable Markets for Farmers = Farm Viability & Local Resilience
Projects & Events
Scroll on the page to learn about NJFDC’s involvement in the Jersey Fresh for All program, and check out the events page.
NJ Health Equitable Local Food Procurement
A policy proposal to transform how NJ state agencies purchase food. It was developed by more than a dozen NJ organizations with support from the Growing Justice Fund.
Public Policy Change
At the state level, NJ has the opportunity to pass a bill (A1492/S1650) to create a Local Food for Schools Program beginning in FY27. NJFDC is also calling for the creation of a NJ Farm to Food Assistance Program modeled after LFPA.
Resources
Local Food Purchase Assistance in New Jersey
From 2023 through the end of 2024, NJ Food Democracy Collaborative's role in Jersey Fresh for All was to speak with and learn from farmers to help better understand what their farm businesses need to grow, and expand awareness about the opportunity to participate in LFPA.
NJFDC completed the first-ever, Baseline Assessment of Socially-Disadvantaged Producers in NJ as part of its role on the LFPA initiative. Since both LFPA and Local Food for Schools (LFS) were terminated in 2025, NJFDC began organizing its members and education NJ policymakers about the need to create state-level Local Food for Schools and Farm to Food Assistance (LFPA-inspired) programs using state funding and operating out of the NJ Department of Agriculture. See our 2026 Policy Agenda for more information.
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The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) awarded federal funds to states and tribal governments to buy food from local and socially disadvantaged farmers to provide to underserved communities.
Here in NJ, the program is called Jersey Fresh for All. NJ Department of Agriculture selected the Community Food Bank of NJ to be the lead organization to implement LFPA . Other partners are Common Market and NJFDC.
Round 1 of LFPA is for two years (2023 & 2024). LFPA Plus is a third year of funding for NJ to continue to purchase food from historically underserved and socially-disadvantaged producers in NJ for distribution through the state’s five food banks.
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NJ Department of Agriculture identified the need to establish an understanding of socially-disadvantaged producers in the Garden State, about their farming activities and challenges farming in NJ. NJFDC conducted this assessment, with 60 farmers participating in fall 2023 - winter 2024
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Assessing Producer Readiness for Institutional Procurement
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While the USDA has several definitions of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, or socially-disadvantaged prodcers, the LFPA-specific definition is as follows: is a group whose members have been subject to discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and, where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. Sometimes the term “historically-underserved” is used to describe farmers that have not received fair access to funding for their farm businesses. Sex, gender, veteran status, immigrant or refugee status, and age including beginner and early career farmers are other statuses that are considered to be the focus of the LFPA program. If you are or know a farmer who identifies as part of one of these groups, please contact us to learn more.
Updated: As of March 2025, USDA no longer recognizes or uses this term.