Farm Aid fosters connections between farmers and eaters by supporting organizations that strengthen local food economies. The document highlights several Farm Aid grantees across the US that work to develop local food markets, provide economic opportunities for farmers, and increase communities' access to fresh, local food. These grantees help keep family farms in business and farmland in production while stimulating their regional economies.

1. Farm Aid fosters connections between farmers and eaters by growing and strengthening local and regional markets. Here’s a sampling of Farm Aid grantees doing critical work to bring family farm food to a community near you! Economic Stimulus: Stories from the Field

2. The Agriculture & Land-Based Training Association’s work is grounded in the belief that limited-resource and aspiring farmers must have fair access to operating capital, training, information and land in order to gain a foothold in California’s highly competitive farm sector. Expanding California’s Horizons

3. Shakin’ Up the Big Apple’s Food System Eighty percent of participating farmers report that they’d be out of business without GrowNYC’s Greenmarket , meaning the program keeps 152 small businesses afloat and over 30,000 acres of farmland in production.

4. Community Farm Alliance coordinates an institutional buying program that fosters new markets for local farmers through a program it calls L.I.F.E. — local innovative food economies. Leveraging the Local Multiplier

5. Ecotrusts’s FoodHub is an innovative search tool that breaks down one of the biggest barriers in local food procurement: knowing where to find local food. Online Matchmakers for Local Food in Oregon

6. Incubating Innovation in Ohio Since its inception, food and farm entrepreneurs of the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks have created more than 500 new jobs and over $50 million in farm sales in Ohio.

7. The Food Project’s Boston Bounty Bucks program enriches the local economy while addressing residents’ access to fresh food by allowing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants to use their benefits at fourteen area farmers markets. Fresh Food for All in Massachusetts

8. Northeast “Middlehandlers” with a Mission With one foot in the nonprofit world and the other firmly rooted in the food business, Red Tomato empowers growers, retailers and consumers to re-create local and regional food economies.

9. Growing Power empowers multi-cultural community groups and small family farmers to participate in local economic development and community food security projects founded on sustainable urban agriculture. Midwest Farming with Urban Roots

10. Developing Vermont’s Food Economy The Intervale Center is a teeming food, farm and economic development center that provides marketing support, distribution services and storage infrastructure to over 20 Vermont producers.

11. Creating Linkages for Local Foods in Texas The Sustainable Food Center’s Farm Direct program provides 85 local growers with direct access to urbanites demanding fresh produce through farmers’ markets, farm stands and farm-to-institution projects in Austin, TX.

12. Real Success through Virtual Connections in Illinois At the FamilyFarmed.org website customers virtually “meet” their farmers and re-establish connections with their food, community, and the land.

13. Family farmers are strengthening economies across America. Find out how investing in local, family farm agriculture can lead to economic growth. Check out these funding opportunities to improve local and regional food systems in your community! Family Farmers are Rebuilding our Economy