Federal Grant Aims to Improve Access to Healthy Food in New Mexico

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is helping strengthen local food financing in New Mexico. The state has received $3 million as part of the Healthy Food Financing Initiative Award for communities to invest in local food hubs.

On Wednesday, attendees got the chance to see the grant money in action at the Three Sisters Kitchen Cafe in Explora. The program is aimed at areas of New Mexico that don’t have easy or affordable access to fresh food. “It’s kind of ironic that all across New Mexico, in some of the heaviest agricultural areas and where farm workers live and work, they also live in a food desert where they don’t have access to healthy foods,” said U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small.

The federal funds are part of President Biden’s Rescue Plan.

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