By IL Radio Network
Springfield, IL – The Illinois Local and Organic Food and Farm Task Force wants you to eat more Illinois food and food products...
Task force members say it could push 20- to 30-billion dollars into the Illinois economy. Anna Organic farmer Chuck Paprochi is a member of the task force. He says if Illinois prisons alone bought more locally grown food and food products, southern Illinois farmers would benefit and the region's economy would improve.
The task force is asking state lawmakers to require state government facilities, like prisons and mental health facilities, to spend at least 10 percent of it's food dollars on Illinois food products by the year 2020. It estimates that while Illinoisans spend about 48-billion dollars on food, only five percent of that is on locally grown food products.
