Exploring the Development of an Illinois Farm to Food Bank Program

In January of 2021, the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) partnered with Feeding Illinois, the Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB), and the Illinois Specialty Growers Association (ISGA) to conduct a feasibility study of a statewide Farm to Food Bank Program. Through interviews, surveys, focus groups, and pilot projects it became clear that a such a program would be welcomed by both the farming and food banking communities. While this is an ongoing research project, this report serves to demonstrate research efforts undertaken from December 2020 – February 2022 that have led to this conclusion along with identifying strengths, weaknesses, threats, opportunities, and recommendations for a statewide Farm to Food Bank program. textlessbrtextgreater textlessbrtextgreater This report was prepared by ISTC for Feeding Illinois, the state association that represents the eight Feeding America-member food banks. Project contributors include the Illinois Farm Bureau, the Illinois Specialty Growers Association, and Illinois Farmers Market Association. Research done in this study was paid for by Feeding Illinois through a 50USDA) Farm to Food Bank grant. textlessbrtextgreater textlessbrtextgreater textlessa href="http://hdl.handle.net/2142/113640"textgreaterView the results of the Farm to Food Bank Surveytextless/atextgreater.