Ag Journal: Community Action's Farm to Food Bank program addresses food insecurity

In partnership with the Skagit Valley Food Co-op, Community Action of Skagit County will distribute $100,000 this May to farmers in Skagit County through the Farm to Food Bank program.

Community Action will loan up to $10,000 per farm, allowing the farm to purchase infrastructure.

The farms will then repay the loans by donating fresh produce to Community Action's Skagit Food Distribution Center. The farms will have five years to repay the loans.

Community Action Community Engagement Director Elizabeth Jennings described the program as a "triple win for the community" - the Skagit Valley Food Co-op and Community Action invest in farmers, who supply the Co-op and the Distribution Center with fresh produce, which ultimately benefits the consumers.

By investing in infrastructure and encouraging fresh, locally-grown produce to stay within the community, the Farm to Food Bank program will address the need for food in Skagit County, Jennings said.

She cited a 2021 Community Health Assessment by Population Health Trust, which identified food insecurity, especially among children, as an emerging issue following the COVID-19 pandemic.

To address food insecurity, the study called for a more developed food distribution system in the county.

Five years later, food insecurity is still an issue in Skagit County, Jennings said, but programs such as Farm to Food Bank are helping to address it by providing consumers with nutritious food straight from local farms.

"Community Action's vision is a community where everyone works together to end poverty in Skagit County, and this is a creative, beautiful way to do that," Jennings said.

Madeline McGonagle, Community Action's farm liaison, emphasized that the Farm to Food Bank program will allow the Distribution Center to get nutritious foods to food banks and food pantries.

She said a lot of food shipments the Distribution Center receives have a lot of shelf-stable canned foods, which are valuable, but are often high in sodium and sugar. Fresh meat and produce are needed, but can be harder to come by.

The Farm to Food Bank program will increase the amount of fresh food at the Distribution Center, meaning consumers will benefit from living in such a strong agriculture community, she said.

"It's amazing that we live in a place where there's such a large diversity of products produced right here, and so it feels really special to capitalize on that and procure what we can around us and distribute it to the food pantries," McGonagle said.

She said that about 10 years ago Community Action had a program similar to the Farm to Food Bank program that used federal funds to provide loans to farmers.

McGonagle, who also works as a farmer, said that the loans through the Farm to Food Bank program won't be as large as that prior loan program, but $10,000 can still go a long way. In the past program, Community Action was able to loan up to $40,000 to each farm.

"This round is a little bit smaller, but we're still hoping that farmers can utilize the money for something that will leverage them to either scale up their business, or make it more efficient," she said.

The previous program led to several long-standing relationships between Community Action and farmers, McGonagle said. The Food Distribution Center still purchases food directly from some of the farms who took part in the earlier program.

"(The previous program) proved to be really beneficial for a lot of farms in the area," McGonagle said. "It also really leveraged our ability to create long-lasting relationships with farmers in the area. So we're hoping to do that again."

For Community Action, partnerships with local farmers and organizations are vital to addressing the issue of food insecurity in the county, Jennings said.

The Farm to Food Bank program continues a history of partnerships between the Skagit Valley Food Co-op and Community Action.

Jennings, who has worked at Community Action for about 14 years, said the two organizations have partnered on several grants and donation programs.

Most recently in September, the co-op began its Feeding Change register donation program, which allows customers to make a donation when they check out, with the money going to Community Action's Distribution Center to purchase food.

Since the Feeding Change program began, customers have donated about $100,000 to the Distribution Center.

Skagit Valley Food Co-op Marketing Outreach Director Nicole Noteboom said that partnerships with Community Action encourage sustainable solutions to food insecurity.

Noteboom said that the produce that farms donate to repay their Farm to Food Bank loans will have a lower carbon footprint than the typical shipments the Distribution Center receives.

Even when food is sourced locally, larger shipments have transportation costs that impact the environment.

Jennings agreed. Though she called the Farm to Food Bank program a "triple win," she said there are more than just three ways in which the community wins.

"In terms of the efficiency, and the quality, and all of those types of things, these relationships are better for everybody," Jennings said. "Including the climate and our environment."

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published April 27, 2026 at 7:07 AM.