Federal officials hear from small, local farmers

Linking small local growers to a large market for their products is a push the USDA is making, Vilsack said.

“It’s about a local, regional food system. We’ve given money to the state of New Mexico to essentially, as they purchase food for food banks, schools, a portion of those dollars go for local (agricultural) systems,” he said. “Now there’s hundreds of millions of dollars that are going, nationwide, to encourage a connection between small producers and big-time purchases.”

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