The purpose of our project is to create a successful collaboration of distinct but critical parts of the local food system to increase supply, distribution, and demand of specialty crops grown by socially disadvantaged farmers/producers within rural, remote, or underserved communities throughout Alabama. The Alabama Department of Agriculture (ADAI) will purchase food directly from socially disadvantaged farmers. ADAI will coordinate the logistics of getting the food from the farm to 1) aggregation and storage facilities, and 2) directly to Feeding Alabama (FAL) for distribution among their more than 1,500 partners assisting underserved communities throughout Alabama. Performance and financial reports will be submitted on a quarterly, annual, and final basis to demonstrate progress in purchasing food from local and socially disadvantaged producers and distributing food to underserved communities. We have discussed the LFPA with approximately one hundred socially disadvantaged farmers and we are committed to purchasing $2,555,660, or 68% or our food costs, from them for the purposes of the LFPA. ADAI will enter into subaward agreements with the federally-recognized Poarch Band of Creek Indians Tribe (PBCI) which is a Title V Self Governance Tribe and Sovereign Indian Nation; The Deep South Food Alliance (DSFA); New North Florida Cooperative (NNFC); Feeding Alabama (FAL); Alabama State Association of Cooperatives (ASAC) and Tuskegee University. Through these subawards we will connect the farmers to these groups for aggregation, storage and distribution of their products to families in greatest need for the purpose of this project while increasing our state’s overall food production.