News at Sprout
april 2024: City of New Orleans & Partners Awarded Federal Grant to Reduce Food Waste and Expand Composting Services
The City of New Orleans was recently awarded $398,500 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Compost and Food Waste Reduction Program (CFWR) to increase the capacity of local composting organizations that will make it more accessible for residents. Local organizations working on food waste reduction and composting programs partnered on the proposal with the City, including Sprout, Schmelly’s Dirt Farm, REALCYCLE, Compost NOW, and Taproot Earth. The project will expand the city’s network of micro-composting hubs, give underserved residents home-composting supplies, and directly support the permaculture businesses who are doing the good work of making composting more possible in New Orleans.
Farmers peruse the seed swap at the Louisiana Farmers Climate Convening, hosted by the Louisiana Small Scale Agriculture Coalition.
March 2024: Novo Nordisk invests $4 Million in the Louisiana Small-Scale Agriculture Coalition’s Food Systems Programming
If there were no imported food from elsewhere, there would be only enough food grown in Louisiana to feed the state population for one week.
To combat statistics like these, the Louisiana Small-Scale Agriculture Coalition (LSSAC) formed in 2022. The statewide coalition consists of long-standing partner organizations the Acadiana Food Alliance, Big River Economic Agricultural Development Alliance, Louisiana Central, Market Umbrella, New Orleans Food Policy Action Council, Shreveport Green, and SPROUT. LSSAC works to bolster the agricultural economy while supporting Louisianans struggling with food insecurity by creating low-cost access to fresh, healthy, local food.
Beginning in March 2024, the coalition will embark on an exciting state-wide project to improve the capacity of the local food system.