photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

In this file photo from August 2022, Gov. Laura Kelly announces Kansas' Local Food Purchase Assistance Program from Just Food in Lawrence.

A 2022 program intended to help Kansans struggling with food insecurity has been awarded an additional $2.5 million in funding to operate for another year, the Kansas Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday.

About a year ago, Gov. Laura Kelly appeared at Just Food in Lawrence to announce the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, a partnership between the state of Kansas, the state’s Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Agriculture to purchase and distribute Kansas-grown and -processed foods to underserved communities across the state.

That distribution since last August has been happening through the state’s existing network of Feeding America food banks, one of which is Harvesters. Just Food is part of the Kansas City-area food bank’s network. The program also partnered with two other Feeding America food banks: Wichita’s Kansas Food Bank and Second Harvest Community Food Bank of St. Joseph, Missouri, which also serves northeast Kansas.

“LFPA has been a wonderful opportunity for our food banks to work with the Kansas Department of Agriculture and to partner with local producers around the state,” Harvesters President and CEO Stephen Davis said in a release announcing the additional funding. “And our neighbors in need are really grateful for this fresh, nutritious Kansas-grown food to help feed their families.”

According to the release, food banks have purchased local food from more than 20 Kansas producers and distributed nearly 800,000 pounds of Kansas-grown produce throughout the state so far in 2023. And local food purchased through the program has already been distributed to 75 of the 85 Kansas counties served by the Kansas Food Bank.