Farmfest: Cultivating partnerships with Minnesota farmers and producers

Our conversations with attendees, including farmers and producers, partners, and state and federal lawmakers, reinforced how we can only end hunger by working together. 

The Second Harvest Heartland public affairs team attended Farmfest this month to educate attendees about the state of food insecurity in Minnesota and our work to source and deliver tens of millions of pounds of food to food shelves across our service area and food banks throughout the state. 

Farmfest is an annual gathering focused on the future of food and agriculture in Minnesota. It brings together growers, producers, advocacy organizations, agribusinesses, and state and federal leaders to discuss current challenges and opportunities. 

At our booth, attendees played trivia that helped them learn more about our sourcing operations. Many were impressed to learn that we source more than 10 million pounds of food from Minnesota farmers each year! We also welcomed new supporters who joined our hunger-relief advocacy newsletter while at our booth, which will allow them to receive timely action alerts and learn about opportunities to engage lawmakers on policies that will help provide more food to our neighbors facing hunger. 

Throughout the event, we attended forums where the leading candidates for Governor and Congress discussed their plans for supporting agriculture and rural communities across the state. We also met with legislative staff to discuss what’s at stake in ongoing Farm Bill negotiations for the thousands of Minnesotans who rely on food assistance programs like SNAP to afford groceries, especially as the federal government seeks to shift benefit costs to the states for the first time. 

Farmfest also provided an opportunity to reconnect with many of our hunger-relief partners and strengthen our relationships within the food and agriculture spaces. We are especially grateful to the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation for their generous donation and continued commitment to ensuring everyone has the food they need to thrive. We also had the pleasure of connecting with some of our other close partners, including the Minnesota Farmers Union, Minnesota Pork Board, Minnesota Corn, and the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation. 

These conversations reinforced how we can only end hunger by working together! 

To stay informed about our policy priorities, learn about upcoming advocacy opportunities, and use your voice to help end hunger in our state, you can sign up for our hunger-relief advocacy newsletter here.