Roanoke Foodshed Network gets $800,000 grant
The Roanoke Foodshed Network is getting a substantial grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service to launch the "Strong Food and Farm Future" project.
The $800,000 in funding will launch a unified marketing and storytelling campaign including a regional food and farming website, the Roanoke Region Food and Farm Trail, and multimedia content, narrative s, podcasts, and a documentary-short, according to an RFN news release.
The marketing campaign will bring together partners from across the region, including Live Work Eat Grow (Montgomery), SustainFloyd (Floyd), and Land and Table (Lynchburg region).
"SustainFloyd is very grateful for this grant funding to continue development of a resilient local food system in Floyd County, " said Jackie Crenshaw, the organization's board president. "The grant will help us expand our fledgling Floyd Farm Trail, an innovative and engaging platform to bridge the gap between our hardworking small-scale farmers and agritourism experiences for customers."
This project will also support regional farmers. Virginia Association for Biological Farming, a leading RFN partner, will provide farmer education programs, farm tours, farmer listening sessions, and a regional food and farm summit, according to the release.
Central to the project is building food justice and abundance in communities, which requires directly partnering with communities most impacted by the inequities present in our food system, according to the release.
"This project will support One Valley's goal of building an inclusive community in Northwest Roanoke through enhanced planning, advertising, program support, guest speakers and staffing of our monthly Community Conversations program," said One Valley's secretary, Gene Yagow.
The USDA is awarding $5.2 million to 10 partnerships across 10 states through the Regional Food System Partnerships Program. The RFSP supports partnerships that connect public and private resources to plan and develop local or regional food systems.
The local project will be implemented over a three-year period from December 2024 to September 2027, according to the release.
The RFN includes over 50 partners that are community groups, nonprofit organizations, farmers, food businesses, community members, higher education institutions, and government agencies. The RFN is working together on a collective vision to build equitable and resilient food and farm systems in the Roanoke region of Southwest Virginia, which includes the cities of Roanoke and Salem, and the counties of Roanoke, Botetourt, Bedford, Franklin, Floyd, Montgomery and Craig.
