State Grants Build Farm-To-Pantry Pipeline

By Lorrice Grant

July 29, 2026

Lorrice Grant (left) with city and state officials, including state Agriculture Commissioner Bryan Hurlburt (right), at last week's CitySeed presser. Credit: Contributed photo

The following write-up was submitted by Lorrice Grant, the executive director of Loaves & Fishes and a co-chair of the Coordinated Food Assistance Network.

There’s a difference between being fed and being nourished. It took a shipping container, a delivery van, three state grants, and the coordination of partners who refuse to accept that fresh food is a luxury — but last Monday, that difference got a little smaller for our neighbors experiencing food insecurity.

On the back lot behind CitySeed, under a bright July sun, next to the retrofitted shipping container now serving as cold storage, members of the Coordinated Food Assistance Network (CFAN) joined Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, Connecticut Department of Agriculture Commissioner Bryan Hurlburt, Senate President Martin Looney, State Rep. Juan Candelaria, Community Services Administrator Eliza Halsey, and Alders Christine Kim, Troy Streater, Mandy Martinelli, Frank Redente, and Sarah Miller (who also serves as Executive Director of CitySeed) to celebrate three state investments that together create a farm-to-pantry pipeline to distribute Connecticut-grown produce across Greater New Haven.

I have the honor of serving as both the Executive Director of Loaves and Fishes and one of the chairs of CFAN alongside my fellow chairs, Alycia Santilli and Kim Hart. Together, the three of us — and the more than 35 partner organizations that make up CFAN — strongly supported the proposal for CitySeed to bring this program to our community. Every day, our partners are on the front lines, serving neighbors who are working hard to put healthy meals on the table for themselves and their families. And we’ve held one standard as non-negotiable: every meal, every grocery bag, must include fresh produce.

We know how much that matters. We also know how out of reach fresh, locally grown produce can be for a family stretching every dollar. That gap between what our neighbors need and what they can afford is exactly what this program was built to close. Now, rather than receiving only shelf-stable staples, pantry guests served through CFAN’s network don’t just receive food; they can choose fresh, locally grown produce. This opportunity improves both the nutritional quality of what families receive and the dignity of the pantry experience.

I believe this is more than a program. I believe it’s a beginning. The number of families across Connecticut struggling to put food on the table is growing, and no single organization, no single pantry, no single town can meet that need alone. It will take all of us, working together across the state, to make sure that every family, in every community, has access to the food they need not just to get by, but to grow and to thrive.

It is time for us to be responsive, not reactive, to food insecurity. It is time to stop meeting crisis with scramble, and start meeting it with strategy. I am hopeful — genuinely hopeful — that together, we can build a food plan for Connecticut that is strategic, comprehensive, and worthy of the families counting on us.

The infrastructure now in place is the product of three separate state awards, each funding a different link in the supply chain to power CitySeed’sfarm-to-institution program, which streamlines ordering, pickup, and delivery of seasonal, local produce: 

A 2024 CTAgricultural Enhancement Grantfunded the purchase of a retired shipping container from Northeast Farm Innovations — the company’s first installation in Connecticut. Converted into cold storage that is two-thirds refrigerator and one-third freezer, the unit gives CitySeed the capacity to store fresh produce at scale.

A 2025Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program Grant funded a refrigerated electric delivery van, allowing that produce to move from farms to storage to pantry shelves safely and sustainably.

A 2026 Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Grantto purchase Connecticut-grown produce specifically for distribution to New Haven food pantries – and fill the gap of a cancelled federal program.

Learn more about Loaves and Fishes at loavesandfishesnh.com, about CFAN at www.uwgnh.org/coordinated-food-assistance-network, and about CitySeed’s farm-to-institution program at cityseed.org/farm-to-institution