Trump Cuts Could Squeeze Small Farmers and Food Banks

New York Times

13-03-2025

At Happy Hollow Farm, a small, 16-acre operation in central Missouri, Liz Graznak grows a variety of vegetables, including organic carrots, Swiss chard, radishes and beets.
Some of those vegetables go to local distributors where they are placed in boxes, alongside meat and dairy items also produced in the state, and delivered to low-income people. Other vegetables are sent to school districts that would normally not have the budget to serve students fresh, locally grown produce.
For Ms. Graznak, about $240,000, or roughly a quarter of her farm's annual revenue, came from the two federal programs that supported these efforts.
This week, she learned that the Agriculture Department had abruptly eliminated the programs. In a Fox News interview on Tuesday, Brooke L. Rollins, the agriculture secretary, called the programs 'nonessential' and 'an effort by the left to continue spending taxpayer dollars that was not necessary.'
Now, Ms. Graznak fears that her small farm is at risk. Like many farmers, she relies on loans, and she worries about how to make payments on the $750,000 she owes.
'My farm production has more than doubled in size in the last two and a half to three years because of these programs and this income,' Ms. Graznak said. 'That money was supporting the growth of my farm. I'm leveraged so high, it's scary. I'm struggling with that right now.'
The Biden administration created the two programs during the coronavirus pandemic to strengthen local supply chains. They had provided $1 billion in grants to states, which then made money available to school districts, food banks and distribution hubs to buy produce, meat, fish, dairy and other minimally processed foods from over 8,000 local farmers.
In December, the Agriculture Department announced another tranche of $1.1 billion in funding for the programs: the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement and the Local Foods for Schools program. But the Trump administration notified recipients last week that it had decided to terminate both.
Money for the programs came through the department's Commodity Credit Corporation, a pot of money replenished annually. The agriculture secretary has broad discretion to revoke that funding and use it for purposes aligned with the administration's aims. The first Trump administration used the funds to pay farmers hurt by his trade war with China, while the Biden administration spent it on promoting climate-friendly farming practices and local food systems.
A spokesperson for the agency said in a statement that the sunsetting of the programs marked 'a return to long-term, fiscally responsible initiatives' and that 'the Covid era is over.'
Some participants, however, expressed surprise that the programs were suddenly scrapped, saying they seemed to intersect with many of the Trump administration's priorities. The administration has vowed to support farmers and to encourage Americans to eat healthier foods, and to empower states to oversee and distribute the funds.
'These were programs that had Republican support in many states,' said Katie Nixon, board president for the Kansas City Food Hub, an organization that connected local farmers like Ms. Graznak with community programs and schools. Last week, the group set up outside a diner in Stockton, Mo., and distributed free boxes of fresh food and produce. About half of the recipients were elderly, and would most likely find it difficult to trek to a larger city for access to a food bank, according to the food hub.
Representative GT Thompson, Republican of Pennsylvania and chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said in a statement: 'The administration is acting within its authority to revisit these programs, which were created as part of the previous administration using temporary American Rescue Plan funds. These were never meant to be permanent, especially when longstanding farm bill programs already provide food assistance that supports farmers, families, and rural communities.'
The Kansas City Food Hub estimates Missouri will lose nearly $20 million from the two programs. 'To get notice on a Friday afternoon, with no forewarning,' Ms. Nixon said. 'It's already late in the season. Farmers have already started preparing for those sales.'
Tom McDougall, the founder and chief executive of 4P Foods, a food distributor and delivery company in Virginia, noted that the local food programs were not unlike the Farmers to Families boxes created by the first Trump administration. That program delivered 170 million boxes of free fresh food to Americans in need from farmers whose markets were disrupted by the pandemic.
'These programs are not handouts,' he said. 'These are investments in the future of an America First food system, right? And it's a system where family-owned farms can thrive once again.'
Had the local food programs not been canceled, they would have provided $3 million for 4P Foods to buy produce, meat, dairy and other products from 200 farmers and producers in the mid-Atlantic region to distribute to food banks and schools. Without the funding, Mr. McDougall anticipates having to scale back orders at some farms and stop working with others altogether.
For organizations that provide food directly to children and families, the elimination of the programs could lead to less healthy meals and fewer purchases from local farmers.
The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina would have received $2 million in 2025 to buy fresh fruits, vegetables, beef, pork and eggs from two dozen local growers and producers, including two that grow exclusively for the food bank.
'We have heard some of our farmers say that this program has allowed their family farm to stay open,' said Amy Beros, the food bank's president.
Need in the community remains high — 100,000 more people used the food bank last year than in 2023, Ms. Beros said — and a volatile economy means revenue from fund-raising is drying up. The local food program's elimination may force charities like the food bank to limit purchases of local produce.
At the Capistrano Unified School District in Southern California, the local food program was set to cover $239,000 in purchases from local farmers, said Kristin Hilleman, the district's school nutrition supervisor.
Ms. Hilleman used previous funding to buy hydroponic lettuce for sandwiches, beef for burger patties, and magenta dragon fruit and organic apples to replace cookies and other processed desserts. 'It's the whole MAHA thing!' she said, referring to the 'Make America Healthy Again' mantra of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, who has made replacing ultraprocessed foods in the American diet a top priority.
Without the funding, Ms. Hilleman said, she will have to reassess her plan for the coming school year and may forgo those purchases or cut elsewhere.
The Great Valley School District in Malvern, Pa., was set to receive between $3,000 and $5,000 for the school year, estimated the district's food service supervisor, Nichole Taylor. That amount, seemingly paltry in comparison with its general food budget, was enough to provide seven schools with locally grown apples and pears for half a year, allowing her to 'buy American,' Ms. Taylor said.
Mr. McDougall of the Virginia food hub acknowledged that it was the Trump administration's prerogative to cancel the programs.
But 'the government has a choice to make now,' he said. 'What do we want our children and families to eat? Where do we want that food to come from? And as a result, what type of agricultural economy are they going to support?'