Walz Touts Farm Bill at Rochester Food Co-op

Press Release

Today, Representative Tim Walz visited the People's Food Co-Op in Rochester. He toured the co-op and talked about the positive impact the Farm Bill has for local producers and businesses in Minnesota.

"The Farm Bill is working to help our local farmers sell their produce to the local community," Representative Walz said. "This works not only to put fresh, homegrown food on your dinner table, but also to create local jobs and build upon the healthy economy we enjoy in southern Minnesota."

"We appreciate the Congressman taking time to visit the store and learn more about the People's Food Coop's efforts in promoting local, healthy foods," said General Manager Michelle Schry. "The Agriculture Act of 2014, through all of its trials and tribulations, ended up providing much needed resources for local, fresh foods and specialty crops. We appreciate the Congressman's efforts towards these healthy reforms, and we are excited to learn about how we can contribute to a more sustainable national food system."

Background on the Farm Bill:

The Farm Bill works to support director farmer-to-consumer and intermediate marketing channels to expand opportunities for farmers and build a healthy local economy. It does this by providing incentives for farmers to sell their products locally and provides grants to local and regional food enterprises that process, distribute, aggregate, or store locally/regionally produced food products.

Background on the People's Food Co-Op:

The People's Food Co-op in Rochester was created by a merger between the La Crosse, WI and Rochester co-ops that was official on January 2, 2012. Since that time work has been underway to create today's home for the co-op in downtown Rochester.

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