News – Santa Barbara County Food Action Network

Coronavirus Food Assistance Program

May 30, 2020
SBC Food Action Network Member
COVID-19 Response, News, Other Sites & Resources, Resources

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced details of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), which will provide up to $16 billion in direct payments to deliver relief to America’s farmers and ranchers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to this direct support to farmers and ranchers, USDA’s Farmers to Families Food Box program is partnering with regional and local distributors, whose workforces have been significantly impacted by the closure of many restaurants, hotels, and other food service entities, to purchase $3 billion in fresh produce, dairy, and meat and deliver boxes to Americans in need

California Awarded More Than $3.8 Million To Support The Specialty Crop Industry Through Multi-State Initiatives

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is pleased to announce that four projects submitted by California were selected for funding for the 2019 Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (SCMP). The SCMP is a federal grant program offered by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service.

The Rebirth of the Food Sovereignty Movement

As a veteran urban farmer, I often get questions from friends and family about best practices for backyard gardening. It wasn’t a surprise when my buddy Martin texted some questions for how to get a vegetable scene started. “Is it OK to start tomatoes outside now? Or better to start indoors?”

‘If All the Stores Close, We Need Food’: Community Gardens Adapt to the Pandemic

Around the United States, local growing operations are offering fresh produce and socially distanced outdoor time.

Gardening is Important, But Seed Saving is Crucial

The U.S. is in the midst of a gardening renaissance. As the coronavirus pandemic prompts big questions about the future of our food system, people everywhere are buying up seeds, pulling up lawns, building raised beds, and flocking to learn from Master Gardeners.

Flour Shortage? Amber Waves of Regional Grains to the Rescue

A grain and flour expert enthusiast says the local flour revolution is tastier, healthier, and has created more robust markets.

A family of strawberry growers had big dreams. Then came the pandemic

They were picking strawberries, father and son, in the afternoon sunlight of the Oxnard Plain. The men, 62-year-old Javier Carranza and his son Cruz, 43, piled the ripened fruit into cardboard boxes destined for farmers markets. Father on one row, son on another, moving steadily from mound to mound.

Food Security Is Right Here: Sea-to-Table Sales Keep Fishing Business Afloat

The pandemic has changed the game for enterprises big and small across the world, and business owners everywhere are trying to adapt. One local fisherman has found a niche to keep his business open and staff employed.

Review: Nels Fredrickson’s ‘Itza’s Garden’

For the protagonist of Nels Fredrickson’s clever illustrated story, Itza’s Garden, freedom means space to move and breathe, and time for nature to take its course. Itza is a hen trapped in a cage on a factory farm, required to produce three eggs a day or be carted off and rendered into chicken parts. Itza’s world, like our own, is a go-go, never slow down place.

Local farm donates 1,500 pounds of produce to staff at Lompoc Valley Medical Center

Some of the workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic in Lompoc were treated to bundles of fresh, locally-grown produce on Friday, courtesy of a local agricultural enterprise.

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