The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets has launched the newly revamped Nourish New York portal to better connect New York’s food organizations to New York farmers.
This comes as the program, launched in May 2020 as an emergency relief effort during the COVID-19 pandemic, celebrates being codified in New York state law for nearly five years. It was permanently codified into state law in Novemeber 2021.
The Nourish New York initiative provides funding to the state’s emergency food providers to help them buy products from the state’s farmers and producers and distribute them to New York consumers who need them most.
Since the program’s launch, nearly $340 million has been committed to Nourish New York. Through this multi-agency effort, New York’s food banks have purchased over 174 million pounds of New York food products, which equates to over 145 million meals distributed to families in need.
“The Nourish New York program has become a wonderful asset for New York Farmers, local food pantries and soup kitchens, and, most importantly, for New Yorkers dealing with food insecurity,” Regional Food Bank CEO Tom Nardacci said in a press release.
“Since its creation in response to the COVID pandemic, Nourish New York has connected support from Governor Kathy Hochul, and our state leaders to New York growers and producers to feed New Yorkers who do not always know where their next meal is coming from.
“This new portal is another example of the investment New York is making to connect local food to local neighbors in need.”
The revamped site has made significant improvements for a better user experience, facilitating more connections between farmers and emergency food providers and other organizations purchasing New York food products, such as schools.
Users can now search for Nourish New York-approved products by category, location, product types and certifications, including Kosher and Halal-certified products, as well as producers participating in the NYS Grown and Certified program.
Additionally, businesses can now create a profile and list all the products that they offer, as well as provide greater detail for each product.
The new portal can be accessed at nourish.ny.gov/search.