Co-op Earns Grant for Mobile Market

by Karen Plourde, Editor, Weavers Way Shuttle

June 12, 2025

A roundtable discussion on the local food system in Pennsylvania on May 15 at Weavers Way Germantown was capped by the announcement of a $452,000 grant from the state’s Department of Agriculture to the Co-op to expand cold storage in Chestnut Hill and launch a new mobile produce market.

State Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding was present for the discussion and made the announcement about the Fresh Food Financing Initiative grant at a press conference afterward. Participants at the discussion included representatives from Philadelphia-area local food system participants such as the Share Food Program, , Philabundance, the neighborhood grocer KFish Comestible, the Food Trust, Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden and Weavers Way Farms.

Recent cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Local Food Purchasing Assistance program, along with proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, were foremost in the minds of the participants. but Redding stressed that the state Ag department continues to focus on strengthening the local food system and helping more people access it.

“Our values haven’t changed — we’re focused on what we can do,” he said. “…There are a lot of folks very deeply committed to the cause and have found different ways and overcome so many different obstacles to be part of this story — to make good food available.”  

Redding added that his department could be the local food system participants’ second-best advocate, but that their best advocates were the participants themselves.

“We’ll back it up, we’ll try to advocate for you, make sure at the state level that we’re doing the right things from a policy standpoint and funding,” he said. “We need to make sure we’re painting a really clear picture about the connectedness that we see, that really is a hallmark of any successful food system.”

Stephanie Shirk, director of the Ag Department’s Agriculture Business Development Center, noted that the chipping away of aid to agencies since the COVID pandemic has led to an increase in the number of food insecure people in the state. Currently, about 1.5 million Pennsylvanians face hunger. Nearly 436,000 of that number are children.

“The data for yesterday in Pennsylvania, the number jumped about 40% in the last two years,” she said. “…. So we have our work cut out for us.”

At a press conference following the roundtable, Redding said that Gov. Josh Shapiro has been steadfast in his support of agriculture, which he sees as one of the five pillars of the state’s economic development strategy. 

“This program (FFFI) fits inside of that structure — it’s not a stand-alone,” he said. “I can’t talk about a Fresh Food Financing Initiative that doesn’t have the farmer, that doesn’t have the folks who were aggregating and finding ways to both package and deliver. And ultimately, it’s about having access at markets like Weavers Way.”

Weavers Way Farm Manager Alessandro Ascherio said he was thrilled to receive the FFFI funds and to be a part of other groups who are working to address the gaps created by USDA cuts and potential deep cuts to SNAP benefits.

 “We serve thousands of SNAP recipients every week as a community retailer and a farm dedicated to providing affordable, local and healthy foods,” he said. “Coming together today to discuss how we can work to keep our local food system going strong despite harmful federal cuts, reflects Weavers Way Co-op’s commitment to support the local economy and the hundreds of local vendors, stores and our farm market.”

Ascherio also urged legislators to stand against the proposed cuts. 

“Just as growing healthy foods strengthens the health and the economy of a neighborhood, so too does providing people with the opportunity to access and enjoy these foods,” he said. 

For more on the Co-op’s plans for the mobile market truck, see General Manager Jon Roesser’s column on p.7.