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CDFA highlights incentives, refrigeration and farm-to-school spending as tools to link California agriculture with hunger relief

2794210 · March 26, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The Department of Food and Agriculture described state programs that both reduce food insecurity and expand market options for small and midsize farmers: nutrition incentive matching, healthy refrigeration grants for corner stores, community food hubs, farm-to-school investments and a tribal food sovereignty pilot.

California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross told the Assembly joint oversight hearing that state investments made since the pandemic have created a new layer of infrastructure—warehouse space, refrigerated trucks and expanded mobile options—that make it easier to move fresh produce from farms to communities in need.

"We now have more infrastructure for that than we've ever had before," Secretary Ross said, describing refrigeration and mobile programs that allow small farmers to sell into food banks, school systems and corner stores.

Nut graf: CDFA officials described multiple programs designed to connect growers to local markets and the food safety net: a California Nutrition Incentive Program that leverages federal matching funds to double CalFresh…

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