The federal government made a sizable investment in local farming recently, allocating $400,000 to the Northwest Agriculture Business Center.

The business center, formed in 2006 with the goal of increasing the economic viability of local farms, will use the money in its Market Access Project.

The project will help farmers and consumers connect throughout Whatcom, Skagit, Island, San Juan and Snohomish counties.

It will create a regional network of agricultural growers and producers, retailers and food service providers all working toward the same goal — making it easier for local food to be consumed locally.

The new funding boost will be used to hire a project manager, build an Internet-based network to house the communications system and promote the program to those involved in Puget Sound area agriculture.

The allocation was approved as part of the 2007 U.S. Department of Commerce appropriation.

A large piece of the Market Access Project will be identifying the key infrastructure components that are needed for processing, storage and transportation in order to get local food into local schools, hospitals, grocers and households.

The project aims to increase not only farmers’ profits, but also the consumption of food grown and processed locally, said David Bauermeister, executive director of the Northwest Agriculture Business Center.

Bauermeister said a number of groups are currently working toward these same goals, and the center will partner with them.

One example is the center’s work with the Cascade Harvest Coalition on the Puget Sound Food System Project to look at how to get additional processing facilities built in the region.

The ideal outcome will resemble the food system of the past, Bauermeister said.

“It used to be a long time ago food was more localized,” he said. “Over the last 50 years the companies have gotten very large and it’s all about who can deliver at the lowest cost possible.”

But now energy costs are increasing and consumers are more concerned about where their food is coming from, he said, making local food more attractive.

“If the berries come from Skagit County, they’re going to take a lot less energy (to transport and store) than if they come from Chile,” Bauermeister said.

The program will also drum up demand for local produce, by spreading the word that food grown closer to where it’s consumed is more nutrient dense.

“There are a number of studies that show local food is more nutritious than higher processed foods that are stored a long time and have traveled a long distance,” Bauermeister said.

Plus money spent locally circulates in the community longer, he said.

Keith Stocker, president of the Northwest Agriculture Business Center’s board of directors, said with increasing demand for local food, information about where food comes from will become more and more valuable.

“We are grateful to Washington’s elected officials, especially Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Rick Larsen, for securing this funding for the program. The market access project will serve a vital purpose — helping rebuild Puget Sound’s fractured food system,” Stocker said in a prepared statement.

Larsen said he thinks the federal funding will help ensure that Northwest Washington will keep producing some of the finest fruits, vegetables and dairy products in the world.

“The Northwest Agriculture Business Center plays a key role in helping producers build partnerships and develop new business models so they can compete with farms down the road and around the world,” Larsen said in a prepared statement. “These resources will help Skagit farmers get their products to market more efficiently, and they will help Skagit families take advantage of locally grown and locally produced food.”