Throughout the Midwest, where dairy farmers face a host of financial challenges, two dozen Organic Valley Co-op members now grow fruits or vegetables or both on the side. In western North Carolina, ending government support has led an estimated 200 to 300 tobacco growers to plant produce, says the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project. And in Iowa, a generation that left the farm to pursue other careers is returning, but with its own ideas.

“The children of corn farmers are coming back to the farm, and carving out 5 or 10 acres to grow fruits and vegetables,” said Craig A. Chase, the local food and farm coordinator at Iowa State University. “They can easily make $30,000 to $40,000 a year.” While their numbers are too small to be reflected yet in farm data, this new passion for produce is evidence that government and private efforts to nurture new markets in the nation’s heartland are starting to pay off, federal officials said.

“It’s really exciting to see farmers trying out these new opportunities, and it’s rewarding to know the U.S.D.A. can assist,” said Elanor Starmer, the Department of Agriculture’s national coordinator for local and regional food systems.

Midwestern grocery chains have begun promoting the advantages of local produce to shoppers, just as East and West Coast stores have been doing for years, and are teaming up with farmers to ensure a steady supply. These deals can include the occasional truckload of cucumbers, or the one million pounds of tomatoes, leafy greens and herbs that a Missouri-based chain, Schnuck Markets, has agreed to buy each year from a two-acre greenhouse under construction in St. Louis. The builder, BrightFarms, based in New York City, has similar greenhouse-to-grocer projects underway in Oklahoma City and St. Paul, and said it was striving to hire local farmers.

Schools, nudged by new federal rules that require healthier snacks and lunches, are seeking more local produce, and the Pentagon has stepped in to help, using the same logistics that supply its military bases. The system, called DoD Fresh, uses distributors who connect schools to farms; up to one-fifth of the $100 million in produce that traveled through this system last year was locally grown, according to the Department of Agriculture, which oversees this effort as part of its budding farm-to-school program.

Seven school districts in Chicago, Detroit and other Midwestern cities have also united to increase their purchasing power, organized by a New York City-based group called School Food Focus that aims to tap the production of midsize local farms.