MidHudson News is reporting state Senate Agriculture Chair Michelle Hinchey and Assemblymember Catalina Cruz last week announced passage of their bill to establish Nourish New York, the state’s “farm to food bank initiative” brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill creates a permanent program for distributing surplus agricultural products to food relief organizations statewide. The measure has the unanimous support of both houses of the Legislature. The Nourish New York program will fund food banks and other emergency food providers for the direct purchase of fresh fruits, vegetables and dairy products from state farmers and dairy processors for distribution to individuals and families struggling with food insecurity. Many New York farmers have lost up to 50 percent of their markets as schools, restaurants and hotels have closed, making the program an important alternative revenue stream for the state’s agricultural sector. Since the program was founded, 21 million pounds of surplus agricultural products have been purchased from a minimum of 4,000 farms statewide and delivered to more than 1.3 million New Yorkers in need. The legislation also makes an effort to address the issue of cold storage as emergency food providers across the state have had to turn away farm products like milk, eggs and yogurt because they do not have the cold storage capacity to keep perishable food fresh. Read the full story at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.