The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana seeks to expand and extend its United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Local Food Purchase Cooperative Agreement (LFPA) to continue to empower our tribal community to distribute healthy local foods to underserved tribal citizens. This one-year extension to the existing cooperative agreement will allow the tribe to continue to build relationships and capacity among our tribal community and local non-native stakeholders food producers. Due to recent supply chain disruptions as well as other ongoing threats, the Tunica-Biloxi Tribal Council is committed to building more resilient local and regional food systems in central Louisiana in collaboration with stakeholders.
Under this amendment, the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana will continue to contract directly with at least 20 local disadvantaged farmers, including tribally owned farmers and food producers, to procure food to distribute to tribal citizens in need. The Tunica-Biloxi Social Services Department will continue to distribute foods from tribal and socially disadvantaged food producers to improve long-term access to markets.