The non-profit Historic Lewes Farmers Market on Tuesday announced its partnership with the Delaware Department of Agriculture’s Council on Farm & Food Policy to bring more fresh food to those in need in Sussex County.
The HLFM was selected to help execute Delaware’s pilot project for the USDA AMS Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement, called Farm to Community. As a project partner in this two-year program, the Historic Lewes Farmers Market will receive a total subaward of $420,000 to procure, aggregate, and distribute produce, meat, eggs, and dairy from Delaware small farmers and other local sources to food pantries across Sussex County. This project comes amid pandemic-era emergency SNAP benefits ending nationwide. The average SNAP recipient’s benefits are expected to be cut about $90 per month, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The HLFM says the Farm to Community Program also supports the local food system by purchasing food from local farmers.