Eighteen local and regional projects are expected to receive nearly $1.2 million in USDA funding to support local agriculture economies and access to healthy foods, according to an announcement by Governor McAuliffe’s office on September 29.

The funding was authorized through the 2014 Farm Bill and Virginia received funding for three programs aimed at recruiting and training farmers, expanding economic opportunities and increasing healthy foods.

“The awards announced today will not only help to achieve my goal of building a new Virginia economy through supporting local farmers and entrepreneurs, it will also strengthen Virginia’s largest industry, agriculture, and help bring Virginia’s fresh produce to market,” said Governor Terry McAuliffe in the press release. “By collaborating with our private and public sector partners like the USDA, these programs are smart, targeted investments needed to position our economy for new opportunities, especially in agriculture and forestry.”

According to the press release, the following is the distribution of resources across the funded projects:
“Virginia received a total of $1,178,409 from three programs to fund 18 projects across the state. Seven projects developing, expanding, and providing training and technical assistance to direct producer-to-consumer market opportunities received $623,923 in funding from the Farmers Market Promotion Program. Eight projects received at total of $353,064 from the Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP) which focuses on processing, distributing, or storing locally or regionally produced food products. Finally, $201,422 from the Federal State Market Improvement Program was awarded to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) to assist three projects in exploring new market opportunities for U.S. food and agricultural products and to encourage research and innovation aimed at improving the efficiency and performance of the marketing system.”