Grant will boost organic food market

The United States Department of Agriculture recently awarded a $3 million Organic Market Development Grant to ZEGO Foods to expand organic and clean food access.

ZEGO Foods has a partnership with Snacktivist Foods headquartered in Coeur d'Alene. 

This funding will help the northwest regional market.

Additional funding helps improve the industry supply chain, adds new products and even finds new sales channels.

These outlets help consumers with diets that are tailored to food allergies or other medical issues.

“We are very excited about this funding,” Snacktivist founder Joni Kindwall Moore said. “It will open a lot of doors to improve the regional clean food market.”

Moore said agricultural practices in the region are not efficient for local or regional farmers.

“Organic farming has picked up steam over the last decade,” Moore said. “But the actual farmland that is marked as organic is lacking.”

“And the country ends up importing a lot of organic foods,” she added.

Moore said a lot of the imported food is mislabeled and not authentically organic.

“Purity standards start in the soil,” Moore said. “And healthy soil leads to healthier ingredients.”

She said one of her main goals is to see more domestically organic grown foods brought to the market. The partnerships between companies will help address multiple angles simultaneously.  

In turn, as more processing is done domestically, she said consumers will be able to more easily find and access these food options.

Funding will also be spent on improving the regional supply chain, opening new sales channels and developing new products.

Moore said getting some more regional processing facilities in place will help keep financial investments and jobs local as well. 

“Right now, we don’t have enough infrastructure in the industry,” Moore said. “There is not enough of a connection between our local farmers and processing plants because the processors aren’t based in the region.”

Moore also co-founded a Collaborative Integrated Value Chain, which boosts the regional supply chain.

Moore said she initially got involved in the industry because she experienced a lot of people struggling with food allergies when she worked as a health care provider. Her family also struggled with food sensitivities, so she decided to take action and founded Snacktivist in 2015.

“We just want to build a better model for holistic food in the region,” Moore said.