To address “the serious and imminent threat that food insecurity poses to families in Ulster County,” a resolution passed at the June meeting of the Ulster County Legislature aims to provide healthy, locally sourced food from local farmers to county residents.
Sponsored by legislator Megan Sperry and co-sponsored by legislature chair Tracey Bartels, the bill greenlights the spending of $100,000 to provide food to those struggling to afford it through an initial purchase of an estimated 133 shares from assorted Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs throughout the county.
The average cost of a CSA share estimated to provide enough food to feed a family of four over the course of a year is $750. Currently over 20 CSAs are listed throughout Ulster County, with the majority of these operations in New Paltz. The selected farms will distribute the county purchased shares of food to food pantries.
“The idea,” said Sperry, “is to support our farmers and to get healthy food to folks that are in need.”
The responsibility for deciding how these interlocking logistics will best function now belongs to the county economic development department. Currently serving as its interim director is Joshua Stratton-Rayner.
In deciding which CSA’s are selected, Sperry intends that preference will be accorded to smaller, lower-income farms, and that diversity requirements should also play a role.
Taking into account the complications over at the finance department as well as the possibly temporary role of Stratton-Rayner as interim director, should the program not be implemented in 2023, the funding appropriated to the policy will be included in the 2024 proposed county budget.
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