{"id":40763,"date":"2024-04-26T15:50:38","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T19:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/?p=40763"},"modified":"2024-07-07T19:10:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-07T23:10:40","slug":"funding-local-food-systems-to-meet-the-impacts-of-a-changing-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/funding-local-food-systems-to-meet-the-impacts-of-a-changing-climate\/","title":{"rendered":"Funding Local Food Systems to Meet the Impacts of a Changing Climate"},"content":{"rendered":"
>> Back to May 2024 Issue<\/a><\/div>\n
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Above: Short Creek Farm was started by high school friends Jeff Backer and Dave Viola in 2015.<\/h5>\n
\"Leah<\/a>The COVID-19 pandemic showed the US the fragility of our national food supply chain, with shocks to the system from farm production to food processing to transportation to store shelves. This was particularly acute for meat and poultry products, with effects that rippled from producers to farmers and consumers alike.<\/div>\n
There is another major disruption underway: the changing climate. Unlike COVID, whose effect was severe in scope, but limited in time frame, the impacts of climate change are ongoing and accelerating.<\/span>The resilience of our food system requires diversification, which means an increased emphasis on localized processing, distribution, and retail. Agricultural and food system lending is an area that many mainstream banks hesitate to engage in. However, more and more\u00a0<\/span>Community Development Financial Institutions<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(CDFIs) are prioritizing investment in food systems, seeing it as core to building community resilience and meeting their mission to provide capital access to people, businesses and communities overlooked or underserved by traditional finance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Benefits and Challenges of Local Food Production<\/span><\/h2>\n

According to the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry\u2019s 2023 Agricultural Overview, there are approximately 7,600 farms in Maine, mostly diversified, with nearly half of those farms (47%) working less than 50 acres. Value-added producers are also smaller scale, with a statewide average of 21 employees per business.<\/span><\/p>\n

The diverse nature and small size of Maine\u2019s food ecosystem reduces environmental impact and concentration risk. But these same qualities, especially in the low-density geographically remote areas that make up much of rural Maine, make it more difficult to coordinate transportation, processing, and distribution.<\/span><\/p>\n

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