The Agriculture Department has just announced an investment that could help bring fresh and healthful foods to places where such foods can be hard to find.

Participants: Gary Crawford and Deputy Agriculture Secretary Xochitl Torres Small.

Transcript

In this country today, there are still places where people don't have easy access to fresh, healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables, but there's a lot of work going on to change that.

The latest development coming this week from Deputy Agriculture Secretary Sochil Torres-Small, who told reporters...

The USDA Rural Development and the Reinvestment Fund are announcing the selection of 16 partnerships that will receive more than $40 million in grants under the Healthy Food Financing Initiative Partnerships Program to expand access to nutritious and affordable foods in 20 states and in Washington, D.C.

Grants will be used by local organizations to do things like establishing new local markets and supply chains and helping local food retailers to offer more fresh produce for their customers.

So people who live in some of the most remote parts of the country don't have to travel so far from home to find fresh, healthy food.

And farmers don't have to shift their products hundreds of miles just to find buyers for them.

Gary Crawford for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.