‘Money is running out’ for N.C. farms reliant on USDA grants

Carolyn Lessard/AP

By Nora O’Neill
The Charlotte Observer

CHARLOTTE — Some in the North Carolina farming industry are sounding the alarm about the future of local farms as ongoing federal budget cuts squash programs funded by the United States Department of Agriculture.

In March, the USDA slashed more than $1 billion from its Local Food Purchase Assistance and Local Food for Schools programs which allowed schools, child care centers and states to buy food directly from local farmers. As food banks and school lunch programs scramble to adjust, farmers say they will feel the business side of these cuts. While some farmers feel unsettled, another said good business strategy and state funding could help make up the gaps.

Kim Shaw, owner of Small City Farm in Charlotte , said food purchase program cuts have worried her about the future of her business and its ability to provide locally grown food to schools and SNAP programs. Shaw said changing quickly is difficult for farmers because they must plant crops months before they can sell them.

“It’s a huge amount of uncertainty. Farming is very uncertain to begin with, which is why the LFPAs were so great, because it was really something we could count on and count on in quantities,” she said. “It changes up what we do considerably and brings more uncertainty to what is already a very tricky business.”

Shaw’s 3-acre farm grows 185 types of vegetables, herbs and flowers. It also produces eggs. She said around 10% of her business is reliant on LFPA programs and she is already feeling the impacts of the cuts.

“The money is running out,” she said.

Kenya Joseph, chair of the Mecklenburg County Food Policy Council , said she’s heard from many farmers who are scared, angry, and confused about the cuts through the council’s partnerships with farmers markets and the SNAP Double Bucks program. The food purchase and Farm to School programs acted as subsidies, allowing farmers to have reliable income at retail prices while helping organizations like food banks.

“It’s not going to be good. That’s just the honest truth. The LFPA loss was about (two to three) weeks ago, and everything feels like one big, long day,” Joseph said. “The deep impact, I think, is not going to be felt until summer… because right now people are still reacting and reeling.”

In addition to putting local farms at risk, the cuts will be deeply felt by North Carolina’s most vulnerable populations, including school children and low-income households, Joseph said. In March The Charlotte Observer reported the cuts affected food banks throughout the state, including those serving victims of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina.

The cuts will affect more than just farmers and food bank shoppers, Joseph said. A lack of local farms could lead to supply chain issues and food shortages, especially when a community is reliant on food grown elsewhere.

The problem is exacerbated further by the Trump administration’s recent tariffs , she said. If the administration would like food to be grown locally in the country, it doesn’t make sense to cut off money that allows local farmers to flourish, Joseph said.

“How is that going to work? Where is the food coming from? You’re going to impose tariffs to make people have to buy local and buy U.S. products,” she said. “How are you supporting that to actually make that a reality when it comes to the food that is grown in this country?”

Joseph has visited Raleigh twice to advocate with the General Assembly and plans to return in May to request the state pay for what the federal government cut. It is a difficult ask, she said, especially since so many farms in Western North Carolina were decimated by the remnants of Hurricane Helene last Fall.
Tommy Wheeler, founder of Tidewater Grain, which grows heirloom crops in Pamlico County and distributes from Rowan County, is more optimistic.

Wheeler said a number of his farm’s programs are reliant on grants. But, he is not upset “in the least,” the USDA made the cuts since it is up to businesses to figure out how to survive.

“It’s somewhat lazy as the business owner to say that our business is reliant upon grant funds. That’s not good business. Fundamentally, grant funds are there to supplement,” Wheeler said. “It’s our job on the sales and business side to find those sales, because people are still going to eat.”

Wheeler said the state can find other ways to support small North Carolina farms such as Tidewater Grain. He would like to see a solution that allows his farm to remain connected to local school programs.

“I have all the confidence that North Carolina, working with the USDA, are going to figure something out that reconnects the local growers with the schools and the students,” he said. “I believe that in my heart.”

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