Delaware LFPA PLUS Executive Summary

The project purpose is to facilitate and increase direct-to-market sales of food products grown by Delaware farmers, to Delaware community members. The project will 1) establish a farmer cooperative focused on marketing, promotion, and to maximize capacity of small, disadvantaged farmers; 2) identify existing community outlets providing food access specifically to under-resourced populations with demonstrated food insecurities; and 3) develop a model enabling small farmers and community outlets (ultimately retailers and other market institutions) to establish procurement relationships. 4) Create a long-term solution to procurement strategies specific to ordering, product storage, and transportation. LFPA Plus aims to expand these efforts by supporting solutions to ordering, storage, and transportation challenges. Goals include supporting community outlets and farmers to increase the capacity to order online. Additionally, purchasing supplies to support safe, efficient, and reliable transportation of food to move from farms to outlets that are located throughout the state. This will also support rental of storage units to increase capacity of community outlets to receive and aggregate local products for further distribution.