TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A new government collaboration with Feeding Florida aims to supply Florida Food banks with locally grown high-protein foods.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson announced a partnership Thursday to increase Florida-grown beef, eggs and dairy products in food banks across the state.
Recommended Videos
This partnership was made possible by a $6.5 million allocation from the Florida legislature to pay for surplus products from Florida farmers. Historically, these high-protein foods have been the most difficult and costly for food banks to obtain.
By partnering with Florida’s agriculture community, Feeding Florida’s network of food banks access to important free foods at a significantly lower price. The state funding helps by increasing the amount of money farmers get back.
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
Feeding Florida is the only statewide network of food banks. This past fiscal year the nine Feeding Florida food banks, including Second Harvest of Central Florida, provided more than 412 million pounds of food to the 2.9 million Floridians who face food insecurities, including over 800,000 children.
Over 51 million pounds distributed through food banks were from Florida farms and ranches statewide.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: