State Sen. George Borrello isn’t dropping his criticism of the way the state has handled the Nourish NY program after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, questioned Richard Ball, state agriculture commissioner, during a recent joint legislative budget session over the handling of Nourish NY after the state Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul created the in state law rather than its pandemic-era roots in an executive order. Borrello and state Sen. Michelle Hinchey, D-Kingston, have been critical of what has happened to Nourish NY since it was lumped into a state Health Department program.

“It was brought up earlier by Sen. Hinchey — Nourish NY,” Borrello said. “The Nourish NY program that you put together I know had an amazing impact. It worked really well. We put together a great bipartisan team to make it a permanent recurring program. It worked well. Then we turned it over to the Department of Health – and then not so much. That’s my concern. This was a great program that fed people, that helped our farmers, that created a more resilient food chain and I guess the real basic question is what can we do to get the Health Department and that bureaucratic black hole to do a better job with Nourish NY.”

Through Nourish New York, food banks and other emergency food providers can receive state funding to purchase agricultural products directly from New York farmers, including fresh produce, meat, and dairy, which are then distributed to families and individuals in need. In each of the seven rounds of funding distributed since the Nourish New York program’s inception, funding was allocated to the state’s 10 regional food banks. Those food banks then work with food relief organizations within their jurisdictions to purchase food from farmers with Nourish New York money.

In September 2022, the state Health Department rolled Nourish NY into the existing Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program, which Cruz, Hinchey and Borrello say has led to groups that once received Nourish NY funding to be shut out. That includes Chautauqua County Rural Ministry and its Friendly Kitchen, and Fredonia farmer Roberto Fred, who lost one of his biggest markets for produce when Chautauqua County Rural Ministry lost its ability to access Nourish NY money.

Ball was part of the team that originally created Nourish NY and noted the Health Department was part of that original team. What happened in September 2022, Ball said, was a decision to place Nourish NY with other similar programs.

“But really the Health Department and their HYPNAP program, that was the conduit, those were the arteries and the veins that got the food where it needed to go,” Ball said. “That hasn’t changed. Our relationship with them hasn’t changed at all. They’re doing a marvelous job. We work together every day. … But suddenly now this program goes out to bid and there’s a big process that’s involved and the comptroller’s going to audit it and we’ve got to make careful use of things. So I would say by and large the program still works well. We still have those relationships.”

An audit last fall by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli revealed the state Health Department approved $22.7 million in purchases from May 2020 through March 2022 despite not having adequate documentation to support the food products were grown in New York as required under Nourish NY. Auditors noted this often occurred because local food providers only submitted lump sum expenses to the regional food banks, as opposed to a breakdown of products purchased, which was not required of them by the Health Department. The state Agriculture and Markets Department could not always verify the source of the farm products purchased despite this being their responsibility. In a review of 165 food purchases, totaling almost $1 million from distributors, neither the agency nor the food relief organization could provide the required documentation.

The Health Department also provided little guidance to food relief organizations on what administrative costs NY Nourish funding could cover. As a result, the audit found the Health Department approved more than $8.9 million in administrative reimbursement that could not be verified due to insufficient documentation. Auditors concluded the Health Department needs to improve its oversight, otherwise, funds could be improperly used for expenses not associated with Nourish NY.

Auditors also found the Health Department applied Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program standards to Nourish NY. Applying the more rigorous nutritional standards left food relief organizations unable to purchase certain foods commonly produced in New York, such as honey, maple syrup and whole milk. The Health Department’s decision to combine funds for both food assistance programs and not supply adequate guidance of these standards to food relief organizations led to some area farms unable to participate in the program. Further, the audit points out that under the law, Nourish NY does not restrict purchases based on whether products meet certain nutritional standards.

The audit determined vendor participation could be increased in the Nourish NY Program. North County had the fewest participants in the program of any region statewide with 16. Vendor participation was also low in the Southern Tier (28), Mohawk Valley (29), New York City (33), Central New York (36), Western New York (39) and Long Island (39), while the Capital Region had the most participants with 102 followed by Mid-Hudson with 97 and the Finger Lakes with 78 vendors. The Department of Agriculture and Markets has identified measures taken and planned to encourage farmer participation in the program.

DiNapoli wants the Health and Agriculture and Markets departments to work together to establish criteria for Nourish NY purchases that most effectively balances the needs of its various stakeholders and improve communication of that guidance to food relief organizations and vendors; improve oversight of Nourish NY, including reviewing processes to enhance documentation requirements and ensure purchases are from eligible sources; for the Health Department to communicate guidance to food relief organizations on eligibility requirements for purchases made under the Nourish NY program and for the Agriculture and Markets Department to improve vendor participation data collection and reliability, and use this to build the program’s effectiveness and increase participation by farms, producers or processors in the program.

“You really brought people together – upstate and downstate, our rural areas, our farmers, our cities and our food banks,” Borrello said to Ball. “We really need to preserve and protect this program.”