After proponents tried for two years, a bill that gives tax credits to farmers who donate produce to food banks has made it to the final New York state budget.
The Farm to Food Bank bill gives tax credits of up to $5,000 to New York farmers who donate fresh produce to emergency food programs. Executive Director of Hunger Action Network of New York state Susan Zimet has been working to get the bill included.
“We’ll get more fresh food into the hands of the people that need it, and it will be good for the environment because fruits and vegetables, when they rot in the landfill, it creates an incredible amount of methane,” Zimet says. “So environmentally, from an anti-hunger perspective and from a farmer’s perspective, this is a win-win-win bill.”
And one, she says that will help food programs serving some 2.7 million food insecure New Yorkers.
