Six government agencies joined together Wednesday to announce the selection of 26 communities across 19 states that were selected as part of the Local Foods, Local Places federal initiative to develop local food projects and encourage economic expansion.
The initiative will provide technical support to integrate local food systems into community economic action plans, USDA said. Experts in the fields of agriculture, transportation, public health, environment and regional economics will work with the communities to develop specific local food projects. According to USDA, these may include repurposing vacant land into food production, developing retail markets for food projects and establishing food hubs to increase food supply chains.