COVID19 Response Update: 3/25/2020

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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Food Well Alliance has cancelled all events and convenings until June 1, 2020. During this time we are focusing our attention on allocating critical resources to our farm and garden partners and creating virtual experiences for metro Atlanta residents who want to remain engaged in the local food community. Our priority is supporting local growers and strengthening their capacity to provide healthy and delicious food for their neighborhoods. We are working collaboratively with a number of local organizations to create new revenue streams for farmers, provide financial relief where possible, and pull resources together to help consumers find local food. Visit our blog for updates about the programs and resources we’ll be offering:

Policy Action Underway

Yesterday, we emailed out a form created by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition to ensure COVID-19 aid gets to small, sustainable farmers. Please use this form to contact your representatives directly.

Here are some of the main requests:

  • Aid for vulnerable farmers: Provide direct payments to farmers who have lost revenue from local and regional markets due to the crisis.

  • Resources to connect local farmers to families in need: Invest in community-based emergency efforts to buy food from farmers and get it to those who need it most. 

  • Credit to keep farmers in business: Expand farmers' access to credit and offer debt flexibility to ensure they can plant, grow, and harvest the food we need this year.

We are also closely monitoring the various aid packages going through Congress so we can advise farmers and partners on how they can access any funding that is made available.

Resources Added:

1. American Farmland Trust is offering $1,000 grants to farmers suffering from a loss due to markets, schools, or restaurants closing.

2. The ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture network is offering all of its technical videos to farmers for FREE.

View all farmer resources here.

Garden Workshops

Although we can’t hold Plant. Eat. Repeat. Spring Garden Workshops in person, we are working with Atlanta Botanical Garden to develop videos and supplemental resources that will be available online beginning in April. Be on the look out for those!

Additionally, we are determining ways to continue our support of community gardens despite the rapid decline of volunteers over the last couple of weeks. Stay tuned for more updates!