A program launched by the state around the start of the pandemic is helping both struggling farmers and New Yorkers in need.

Alan Glustoff, the owner of 5 Spoke Creamery, a dairy farm in Goshen, said Nourish New York has helped his business to prosper.

When he’s not riding his bike, Glustoff's busy handmaking cheese.

"We have seven different cheeses," said Glustoff, who sells cheese to retail stores, restaurants and even airlines.

But his business took a hit when the pandemic struck.

"All that completely dried up, so it took several months, several months worth of sales," he said. He said sales dropped 35%, causing concern about the future of his creamery.

Then he heard about the Nourish New York program. It connects upstate farms with food pantries that are looking to purchase farm-fresh food for people in need.

"I thought it was a one-year program, so we did get some nice orders and it certainly helped last year, as I'm sure you can imagine. All the restaurants closed, which is the mainstay of our business," Glustoff said.

The Nourish New York program launched in April of 2020 as a way to help struggling New York farms and tackle the hunger crisis worsened by the pandemic.

State Sen. Michelle Hinchey and Assemblymember Catalina Cruz drafted a bill to make it a permanent state program. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the bill last month.

"What our bill does is it makes that program permanent, and it also expands it, so instead of just being surplus goods, which are goods that farmers were going to throw out anyway, it makes a new market for farmers to be able to sell, not just their surplus, but any goods, to the state to then be able to be distributed to food banks and food pantries," Hinchey said.

So far, 35 million pounds of food have been purchased from 4,000 New York farms, including Glustoff's.

He said those Nourish New York orders have kept his creamery afloat, with business now up by 40%.

Glustoff is still a part of the program, selling thousands of pounds of cheese to food pantries at a time.

"Learning about nourish was extremely helpful in terms of financially, but also in terms of stability," Glustoff said.

He is also comforted knowing that his food is not just helping his business, but also putting food on the tables of hungry New Yorkers.

"The Nourish New York program is extremely helpful and we are very grateful and appreciate that New York is looking out for people that need food and people like ourselves," Glustoff said.