Local food startup Harvie faces uncertainty over $1M USDA grant amid program cuts
As the founder of a local food startup negotiating a full range of small business challenges, Simon Huntley knows a warning sign when he sees one.
After his Lawrenceville-based Harvie was approved for a $1 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture last May through its Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program, Huntley has new reason to doubt his company will ever get the money. News breaking from various published reports say that the administration of President Donald J. Trump and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are cutting more than $1 billion in USDA programs.
Various reports detail the USDA is poised to make $660 million in cuts for the Local Food for Schools program for 2025 as well as cut the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which was expected to put about $500 million into supporting food banks this year.
While neither program was to provide his grant funding, Huntley has learned to not expect much, especially given Harvie was supposed to have received the $1 million grant appropriation last July, an award for which his company had been prepared to pony up $1 million in matching funds.
Click here to read more from our partners at the Pittsburgh Business Times.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Motorcar Parts: Fiscal Q4 Earnings Snapshot
TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) — TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) — Motorcar Parts of America Inc. (MPAA) on Monday reported a loss of $722,000 in its fiscal fourth quarter. The Torrance, California-based company said it had a loss of 4 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 28 cents per share. The maker of remanufactured vehicle alternators and starters posted revenue of $193.1 million in the period. For the year, the company reported a loss of $19.5 million, or 99 cents per share. Revenue was reported as $757.4 million. Motorcar Parts expects full-year revenue in the range of $780 million to $800 million. _____ This story was generated by Automated Insights ( using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MPAA at
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Gilbane, F.A. Wilhelm top out $4.3B Indianapolis hospital
This story was originally published on Construction Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Construction Dive newsletter. A joint venture of Providence, Rhode Island-based Gilbane Building Co. and Indianapolis-based F.A. Wilhelm topped out Indiana University Health's new downtown Indianapolis hospital, according to a May 27 Gilbane news release. The $4.3 billion, 2.1 million-square-foot hospital, announced in August 2020, will contain 864 inpatient rooms, 50 operating rooms and two helipads, according to Gilbane's project page. It will combine the health system's Methodist and University Hospitals, and is on track to finish in 2027, according to a June 2024 construction update. The medical project, initially budgeted at $1.6 billion, swelled to $4.3 billion in 2023. Growing construction costs of more than 20% of the initial budget and a height increase in the hospital's three bed towers to 16 stories initially increased it to $2.31 billion, according to a 2023 news release from the hospital network. Along with those construction costs, support buildings and other infrastructure — which include medical offices, parking garages and logistics space — tacked on an additional $1.98 billion to the project's price tag, per the news release. Combined, the inflated costs and additional work more than doubled the original budget. The hospital will also feature three clinical institutes for cancer, cardiovascular and neuroscience care, according to the hospital's project page. The complex will include bridges to the Capitol View medical office building, the Indiana University School of Medicine and the South Support Building, per Gilbane. At a lower level, below-grade tunnels will traverse from the hospital to the School of Medicine, South Support Building and central utility plant. 'Reaching the topping-out milestone is a proud moment for our entire team,' said Aaron Perry, Gilbane's project director, in the release. 'It reflects years of hard work, coordination, and a shared dedication to safety and quality.' Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Private project abandonments hit record highs
This story was originally published on Construction Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Construction Dive newsletter. Private developers scrapped more projects in May than in any other month on record, according to the latest data from Cincinnati-based ConstructConnect. The Project Stress Index, a measure of construction projects that have been paused, abandoned or have a delayed bid date, increased 11.4% in May. That figure puts project stress 22.8% above 2021 baseline levels, said Devin Bell, associate economist at ConstructConnect. 'Abandonment activity has continued to rise, reaching its highest reading in over a year,' said Bell. 'While public sector abandonment activity remains within historic levels, private sector abandonments have reached multi-year highs.' Bell pointed to high interest rates and shifting market conditions as key factors reducing project viability. He said those pressures continue to erode developer confidence. A 30.3% spike in overall project abandonments caused the surge in stress in May, according to the report. In contrast, delayed bids dropped 1.9% and on-hold activity remained essentially flat. Since the end of 2024, abandonment activity has climbed 66.5%, while bid delays have increased 4.3% and on-hold activity has dropped 18.5%, according to the report. For example, clean energy manufacturers canceled, closed or downsized about $8 billion in projects in the first quarter of 2025. That includes the cancellations of a $1.2 billion plant in Arizona and a $2.6 billion battery factory in Georgia. For the month, private sector struggles stood out sharply, said Bell. Private abandonments increased 62.6% over the month, and are now up 92.2% year over year. That surge has led to the highest level of abandonments since ConstructConnect began tracking data in mid-2019. Meanwhile, private projects placed on hold increased 23.1% over the past 12 months, according to the report. Public projects moved in the opposite direction over the last year. Abandonments on public works remained flat, while public projects put on hold fell 15.2%, according to the report. Recommended Reading Private delays, abandonments drive project stress higher Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
