Eye On Illinois: Initial round of food grants show hefty appetite for program statewide

Sometimes a pilot program barely gets off the ground, leaving backers wondering if it’s worth the effort to mount a second attempt.

Conversely, some inaugural offerings succeed beyond even optimistic projections such that pressure builds instantly to be bigger and better.

The Local Food Infrastructure Grant program definitely fits in the second category.

After a legislative attempt stalled in the Senate last May (House Bill 54), the state agriculture department set aside $1.8 million to launch the grant program. A two-month application window opened in December, and by Jan. 31 almost 250 applicants submitted proposals for more than $23 million.

The Illinois Stewardship Alliance Wednesday announced the 19 projects splitting the first round of money, citing the work of “10 Illinois-based agriculture and food system experts” who determined which projects were worthy of up to $150,000. The Alliance said money will “provide farms, food business, institutions, cooperatives and more help with investment in local food infrastructure and equipment necessary to scale up the processing, aggregation, and distribution of local food raised or grown in Illinois.” (For a full list of winners, visit ilstewards.org/2024-local-food-infrastructure-grant-awards.)

Now 10 senators sponsor Senate Bill 3077, which would make the project permanent while offering awards in two categories: individual (up to $75,000) and collaborative (up to $250,000). At the same annual outlay it would take more than a decade to fund all the requests that missed the 2024 cut, and that’s without factoring inflation or the likelihood of other viable suitors joining the conversation.

Gov. JB Pritzker didn’t put this money into his current budget proposal, but he’s got a track record of supporting efforts to eradicate food deserts in Illinois. (If “food desert” is a new term, I commend the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Access Research Atlas, tinyurl.com/FoodAccessAtlas, which includes an interactive map showing the issue exists in urban and rural pockets throughout Illinois.)

In 2022, lawmakers created the Healthy Food Access Development Program, also a competitive award process. That effort sees the Department of Human Services coordinating with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to help grocers, farmers’ markets and small retailers secure grants, loans, equipment or other financial aid.

In 2023, the General Assembly passed the $20 million Grocery Initiative Act (Senate Bill 850), allowing DCEO to create a grant program for grocery stores in food deserts, whether they be private or owned by a local government, school or community college district.

It shouldn’t be hard to find political support for making LFIG permanent, especially once backers have data showing returns on these investments for both the agribusiness community as well as beneficiaries of food distribution efforts.

These efforts don’t stir controversy or dominate headlines, but they improve Illinois. Well done.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Media. Follow him on X @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.