HDFFA’s 2024 Programs Reached More than 75,000 Central Oregon Residents

 

High Desert Food and Farm Alliance (HDFFA) believes everyone deserves good food.

 

They serve this belief everyday with programming in increasing access to healthy, locally grown food for Central Oregonians experiencing food insecurity; providing support for farmers and ranchers; and educating consumers to source from our local producers.

 

Support for Farmers

HDFFA’s Agricultural Support work continued to expand in 2024. They are grateful to the USDA for supporting HDFFA with a new Beginner Farmer Rancher Development Program Grant (BFRDP). Their project – Enhancing Resilience, Inclusion, Accessibility, Connection, Business Viability, and Food Sovereignty in Central Oregon – was awarded $522,575.00 over three years to expand its support of our region’s Farmers and Ranchers.  It’s well under way!

As a result of that grant, their Agricultural Support Manager – Andrea Smith – headed to the east coast to attend the USDA’s National Conference. She presented a poster and was a wonderful representative for Central Oregon in North Carolina this fall!

Throughout the course of the growing season, Andrea and their Food Access Manager, Amanda Singh, tabled at Central Oregon’s various Farmers Markets, giving out a record 700 samples of salads and dishes made from delicious, fresh-from-the-market ingredients.

HDFFA thanks to our local Farming and Ranching community for coming to events this year too. These included Small Farms School (presented with OSU Extension and School of Ranch) and a Farmer-Rancher-Chef mixer.

In January, HDFFA awarded $23,677 in On Farm Efficiency Grants to 10 farmers and ranchers.  Read about those grants here https://hdffa.org/empowering-farms-nourishing-communities-hdffas-grants-in-action/

HDFFA further supported local farmers through its food access work, with over $112,000 in payments for produce for its Grow & Give, Fresh Harvest Kits and VeggieRx programs.

 

Grow & Give: Farm Fresh Food for Those Who Need It Most

HDFFA’s Grow & Give program collects fresh, nutritious produce that might otherwise be wasted. The program relies on our relationships with local farmers and the NeighborImpact regional food bank. Some of HDFFA’s partner farms kindly grow produce specifically for this program, prioritizing the produce that food pantry clients prefer or cannot often otherwise access.

As they wrap up another season of sharing fresh, locally grown produce with those in need, HDFFA wants to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of you who participated in the Grow & Give program via donation and volunteering this year. They are happy to share that they collected 31,698 pounds of produce in 2024, exceeding their goal of 30,000 pounds! The produce was delivered to NeighborImpact, our regional food bank, and other hunger relief agencies like Bethlehem Inn and The Family Kitchen. There were 24 amazing farming partners who welcomed HDFFA staff and volunteers to their farms for gleans throughout the season or who participated in Grow & Give at the end of Farmers Markets all season. Thanks to such combined efforts, families experiencing food insecurity in our Central Oregon community enjoyed 26,415 meals from local, nutritious food.

HDFFA’s new Grow & Give van (named Vanna Berry) was a delightful new addition to our team as well. If you’d like to know more about our Grow & Give program and would like to get involved or learn how to support it, please email growandgive@hdffa.org. Here’s to another season of growing and giving together!

 

Fresh Harvest Kits: Ready-to-Make Meal Kits

Fresh Harvest Kits – HDFFA’s 2024 Fresh Harvest Kit program wrapped up in October. Each kit is its own ready-to-prepare meal intended to feed a family of four, featuring locally grown produce, a recipe in Spanish and English, spices, and pantry staples to complete the recipe. They distributed 2,402 meal kits (9,608 individual servings) at seven sites throughout Central Oregon from La Pine to Madras to Warm Springs and from Prineville over to Sisters, including a continued partnership with Council on Aging to deliver the meal kits through their Meals on Wheels program. Feedback shows that the fresh, local produce is the most important aspect of the kits for recipients. People also love the variety of the fresh produce provided and how it allows for new food experiences saying, “It introduces you to healthy food options.”

 

VeggieRx: Connecting Patients with Produce

VeggieRx welcomed 175 total participants in three locations this year in downtown Bend Farmers Market, Madras and Warm Springs. The program is designed to provide produce-as-medicine to enrollees who are experiencing food insecurity and have a diet modifiable medical condition. Our participants received a “dose” of produce each week for 10 weeks. At our downtown Bend Farmers Market location (our largest cohort), our booth often had homemade delicious sample recipes made by HDFFA staff members, so participants could get a taste of the day’s season produce offerings at the booths to decide what they should take home. Want to hear more about the program or hear about how to participate next year? Email Kelly@hdffa.org.

 

Consumer Education and Resources

HDFFA’s annual High Desert Food and Farm Directory aims to be your comprehensive guide to local food: farms, ranches, delicious locally-made products and restaurants whose menus are filled with locally-sourced ingredients. 32,000 directories were distributed at our Farmers Market Booths, through The Source, The Nugget, and other partner locations.

The 2025 Directory will open for partner registration January 6, 2025. Please let us know about new restaurants, local businesses, farms, or ranches that should be in our 2025 Directory by emailing julie@hdffa.org.

HDFFA held a  variety of events hosted or co-hosted with some outstanding partners. These included:

• • • The first annual HDFFA’s SOUPer Bowl 2024 (congratulations to the inaugural SOUPer Bowl Champion Mountain Burger)!
  • • Film Screening Common Ground with partners Cultivate Bend and The Tower Theatre
  • • Film Screening Gaining Ground with COCC, The Environmental Center and Central Oregon BIPOC
  • • So Much Together with the Latino Community Association & Oregon Humanities
  • • Farm to Table Dinners at Feast, Wine Down Ranch and Terra Kitchen
  • • Heart Healthy Cooking Class with St. Charles Health System
  • • Bingo Night at Spider City Brewing

 

2025 & Beyond!

HDFFA will continue to offer each of these programs and more. The organization is especially excited to invite the public back to their second annual fun, family-friendly HDFFA’s SOUPer Bowl on February 8 at the Grace First Lutheran Church  in Bend. A fundraiser for the nonprofit that seeks to ensure everyone has access to good food, the admission fee entitles attendees to soup samples from over a dozen local restaurants. All proceeds will go to support HDFFA’s programming in Food Access, Agricultural Support, and Consumer Education/Resources. Ticket sales begin January 3, 2025.

Executive Director Sharon Maier-Kennelly says, “We remain deeply committed to supporting our farmers and ranchers and connecting our community with locally sourced, healthy foods in 2025…and beyond!”