KDSN RADIO News
Iowa farmers feel the impact of local food programs being eliminated
The USDA is ending two local food programs this month, which is a financial blow to some eastern Iowa farmers.
The programs helped connect regional food producers with food banks and schools statewide.
Funding for the Local Food Purchase Assistance and Local Food for Schools programs was approved under the Biden administration but is now being cut off.
Emmaly Renshaw is with Iowa Valley RC&D, a nonprofit that supports food supply chains across Iowa.
“What we have seen in the last three years of LFPA and LFS has been absolutely phenomenal, as farmers have more stable revenue through these programs, as food hubs are able to have that revenue, they’ve grown,” Renshaw says. “We’ve seen new trucks, we’ve seen new cold storage, we’ve seen new connections.”
Renshaw says the total revenue for producers in both programs was $360,000.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said they were COVID-era programs that needed to be eliminated.
Emma Johnson is an owner of Buffalo Ridge Orchard in Central City.
“Local food is going to be more expensive, because currently, we’re at a stage where every farm is having to do every single part of production — sales, distribution, all of it,” Johnson says, “and this is why it was so important to actually build the infrastructure for local food.”
With the programs being discontinued, Johnson says her orchard has roughly 50,000 pounds of apples that she needs to find a new way to sell.
(James Kelley, Iowa Public Radio)
