Agriculture; Expanding Access to Local Foods Act of 2025; definition; Expanding Access to Local Foods Program; Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry; revolving fund; effective date.
HB2918 creates the “Expanding Access to Local Foods Act of 2025” and establishes a state-run purchasing program within the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry. Under the bill, the department would buy locally grown fruits and vegetables at market value from small and underserved Oklahoma producers and then donate those foods to nonprofit organizations that distribute food free of charge within the state.
The bill is designed to strengthen local agricultural supply chains, improve resiliency, expand economic opportunities for smaller producers, and support food security. It also authorizes the department to adopt rules and procedures to administer the program and defines “market value” for purposes of the purchases.
The bill would add new statutory provisions in Title 2 of the Oklahoma Statutes creating both the local foods purchasing program and the Expanding Access to Local Foods Program Revolving Fund. The fund would be a continuing, non-lapsing revolving fund that could receive appropriations, federal funds, municipal contributions, private donations, and other designated monies, and those funds would be available to the Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry to carry out the program. The department would gain authority to use the fund, make purchases, and establish administrative rules, while nonprofit food distributors in Oklahoma would become the recipients of donated produce.
The available voting history suggests limited support in committee, with the House Appropriations and Budget Natural Resources Subcommittee vote failing 3-7 on a DO PASS motion. No committee transcript is available, so there is no recorded debate to indicate broader public arguments, but the vote outcome suggests the measure did not have enough support at that stage. Overall, the bill appears to have been viewed as a targeted agriculture and food-security initiative, but not one that advanced out of subcommittee.
The main points of potential contention are likely fiscal and administrative rather than ideological: the bill creates a new revolving fund, authorizes use of appropriated and outside monies, and requires the department to administer a purchasing-and-donation program. Legislators concerned about state spending, program duplication, or the need for a new state-managed food procurement system may have opposed it, while supporters would likely emphasize benefits to small producers, local food access, and food insecurity relief. Because there are no transcripts, the specific objections of the seven nays are not documented.