Banga’s Farm, in partnership with The Good Food Collective and the Southwest Community Food Alliance, will provide 20,000 pounds of produce to food pantries throughout Southwest Colorado.
From June through October, Good Sam’s Food Pantry, Mancos FoodShare, the Towaoc Food Pantry, Dove Creek ROCK and Dove Creek Care and Share will receive freshly grown carrots, potatoes, onions, lettuce and other pantry staples from the Mancos Valley farming operation.
Grace's Kitchen at St. Barnabas of the Valley Episcopal Church and Hope’s Kitchen at First United Methodist Church in Cortez will also receive produce for their free community meals.
Alix Midgley, rural food access manager for The Good Food Collective, said the initiative is meant to fill a gap in both the farming industry and the community.
“There’s been kind of a simultaneous thing happening where our pantries have really seen a very significant decrease in their purchase ability,” she said. “So now that those dollars have been eliminated, farmers have had to find other networks to be able to move that produce.”
In 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut funding for the Local Food Purchasing Assistance program, which provided food pantries the ability to purchase locally grown food. Midgley said the cuts put many Southwest Colorado farmers’ profits at risk.
“The LFPA ending really had a pretty significant impact locally for many of our local farms, including Banga’s Farm,” she said. “(For) a lot of our local farms, as much as a third of their seasonal sales was going toward local food pantries or local food security programs.”
She said The Good Food Collective hopes the initiative will showcase a viable option for farms and food pantries across the nation facing funding cuts.
“It gives us the opportunity to fill this LFPA gap that’s been left,” Midgley said. “And if we can fundraise for it, it’ll give us an example of a way that communities can respond to this gap now that exists across the country.”
In Montezuma County, one-fifth of residents receive SNAP benefits and, according to the county’s 2025 public health survey, lower cost of food is one of its residents’ greatest needs.
For Southwest Colorado residents lacking adequate money for food, the program will provide quality produce, which isn’t always in stock at food pantries.
“Largely, the produce that’s available for people through pantries is coming from very far away. Some of it’s not necessarily in the best condition, which means that it also is not going to be as nutrient-rich,” Midgely said.
Ultimately the program hopes to continue beyond this year, after assessing the success of the pilot project. If the community, farmer and food pantry reviews are positive, The Good Food Collective will seek more funding and connect with more farmers for further partnerships.
“It’s really important that we support our local farmers so that they can continue to make a living growing food in our local community,” Midgely said.
avanderveen@the-journal.com
