Committee backs state local-food purchasing program; amendment adopted and bill laid over

The House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee considered House File 2102, a bill to establish a state Local Food Purchasing Assistance (LFPA) grant program to purchase and distribute food free to Minnesotans experiencing food insecurity. Representative Lee moved the A1 author’s amendment and the committee adopted it; the bill was laid over for possible inclusion in future legislation.

The A1 amendment clarified that the program’s grants would prioritize applicants with demonstrated connections to people experiencing food insecurity and allow up to 15% of a grant for administrative or transportation expenses. It also stated the program’s purpose: to purchase and distribute food at no cost to Minnesotans in need.

Testimony emphasized two goals: providing reliable markets and contracts for small and beginning farmers, and addressing hunger. Jane Winsperger of the Minnesota Farmers Union described LFPA’s role in creating reliable markets and said programs like LFPA helped her expand from a quarter-acre operation to purchasing 30 acres. Arlene Jones of Sprout Food Hub and Amanda Neggan Crowley of the Village Agricultural Cooperative described supplying rural food shelves and using federal LFPA funds to purchase produce and protein from small family farms; Arlene said past rounds supported more than 2,500 rural Minnesota families and distributed over $150,000 to more than 100 farms in her region. Amanda described a USDA LFPA award of $100,000 and said her group spent more than $76,000 buying local food for food shelves.

State agency testimony: Andrea Vaubel, deputy commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, said the agency sees value in a state-level LFPA after USDA cooperative agreements were terminated; she estimated the department had been expecting about $4.7 million for fiscal year 2025 under the federal program but that an exact state appropriation would depend on legislative decisions. Vaubel said prior LFPA rounds directly supported roughly 180 farms, though she called that figure an underestimate because aggregators serve multiple small farms.

Why it matters: Testimony framed the bill as a dual investment — helping small and beginning farmers gain stable markets while supplying culturally appropriate, high-quality food to food shelves for Minnesotans facing food insecurity. Members noted urgency because of federal program cuts and cited an outstanding reimbursement issue: one testifier said her organization had not yet received more than $82,000 in federal reimbursement for 2024 program expenses.

Votes and next steps: Representative Lee moved the A1 amendment and the committee adopted it by voice vote. Representative Lee renewed the motion to lay House File 2102 as amended over for possible inclusion in a future bill; the committee laid the bill over.