Growing Local:

CDBG Funds Strengthen Louisiana’s Farmers

Feeding Louisiana has secured a new allocation of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding to do something powerful and simple: buy more food from Louisiana farmers and producers. Through this award, more than $500,000 will flow to the five regional food banks specifically to purchase local produce and protein from growers and ranchers across the state.

Here’s how it works: instead of relying solely on donated product or distant suppliers, food banks can now contract directly with Louisiana farmers—paying fair prices for fruits, vegetables, eggs, and proteins grown right here at home. That means a truckload of sweet potatoes from a north Louisiana farmer, or fresh greens from a small producer near Acadiana, can move quickly from field to food bank shelves, strengthening both our local food system and our rural economies.

For farmers, this funding does more than cover a single sale. It creates a reliable market in a sector where so much is uncertain—weather, input costs, and commodity prices. Working with the food banks gives small and mid-sized producers a stable buyer, helps them plan their crops with more confidence, and reduces the risk of surplus product going unsold or underpriced. In short, CDBG dollars help keep Louisiana farmers farming.

The grant also requires tracking the parish where food is grown and the parishes where it is distributed, making visible what our farmers and food banks have always known: when we invest in local agriculture, we are investing in local communities. The same dollars that support a farmer’s operation on Monday are putting fresh, healthy food on a family’s table by Friday—often in that farmer’s own region.

This CDBG partnership is a win-win: stronger markets for Louisiana farmers, more fresh food for our neighbors, and a more resilient, homegrown food system for the entire state.