The state Senate has approved a measure to boost local farming by requiring state agencies to purchase 20 percent of their food supplies from New York-based sources. It is believed that the “Buy …
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The state Senate has approved a measure to boost local farming by requiring state agencies to purchase 20 percent of their food supplies from New York-based sources.
It is believed that the “Buy from the Backyard Act” (S.2468), sponsored by Agriculture Committee Chair Senator Patty Ritchie and with 22 sponsors in both houses of the Legislature, would be a boon to local agriculture as state offices, colleges, hospitals and prisons would turn to local sources for more of their food needs.
“I’ve been working every day to encourage more consumers to buy locally—and support New York’s 38,000 farm families,” Heuvelton Republican Ritchie said. “Using the purchasing power of state government can make a real difference in supporting our family farmers and helping our leading industry—agriculture—grow.”
Ritchie recently led an effort to increase the amount of New York produced farm goods sold in state office buildings, encouraging the Commissioner of General Services to offer New York-produced milk in state lunch rooms that serve more than 40,000 workers and guests each day.
Commissioner RoAnn Destito agreed, and also said the department would begin to require the use of more vegetables and other New York-made products in lunch rooms at state facilities.
The bill was sent to the Assembly.