At Farm Fresh RI, we believe that strong local food systems are the backbone of healthy communities. That’s why we’re continuing to raise awareness about the recent USDA funding cuts and their widespread impact–not just here in Rhode Island, but across the country.
As reported in The Boston Globe, these cuts–totaling nearly $3 million for our state–directly affect over 100 small farms and businesses that provide fresh, locally grown food to Rhode Island schoolchildren, food banks, and families in need. Without this funding, many of these farmers are now facing an uncertain future, wondering how they will sell their produce and keep their businesses afloat.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has defended cutting $1 billion from the programs that filled food banks and schools with locally grown food. In an interview on March 11 onFox News, Rollins, who was president and CEO of the Trump-aligned think tankAmerica First Policy Institute, said the programs were “nonessential and … an effort by the left to continue spending taxpayer dollars that were not necessary.”
That stunned Jesse Rye, executive director of Farm Fresh Rhode Island, which managed the grants.
“Portraying the work of local food systems as politically aligned with one party or another is really short-sighted, narrow-minded, and it really undermines the work that needs to happen in our country,” Rye said. “If we actually want to think about food security and being food independent, if we want to reduce food miles, if we want to have farms that are thriving all across the country … we need to support this work so that farmers have a fighting chance.”
Farm Fresh put together partnerships with nonprofits including the Southside Community Land Trust, the African Alliance of Rhode Island, the Commercial FisheriesCenter of Rhode Island, and the Rhode Island Food Policy Council, which in turn connected their communities across the state to schools, community food banks, and agencies helping relieve hunger in Rhode Island.
The school districts got an allotment of funds that they could spend on products from local farmers, including ground beef, shredded cheese from Narragansett Creamery, frozen broccoli grown in Maine, and kid-sized apples grown at Steere Orchard in Smithfield, R.I., all of which was served in school cafeterias, Rye said.
Rye called the programs “common sense.”
“This is about connecting people who need food and getting it to them from local sources so that we can support a local supply chain,” Rye said. “And it’s so frustrating when you think about what’s going away, because … if we’re going to be more food independent as a region, as a nation, these are the sort of things that we need to be supporting right now.”
The uncertainty has been destabilizing for the farmers and fishers.
Some are immigrants, such as the independent growers at Urban Edge Farm. Some, like John Steere, are multi-generational farmers; his family has grown apples at Steere Orchard since the 1930s.
“It’s a shame. It’s been a great program and helped us move more apples,” Steere said.“And, it only makes sense to feed schoolchildren better food.”
While schools can still buy locally, realistically, it will be tougher without the federal funding. School budgets are tight, and locally grown food is sometimes more expensive than products coming from large corporations or imported.
“If the food’s not coming from local farmers, it’s coming from this global food system that is owned by very few individuals,” Rye said. “So, the USDA is really showing that they don’t care about small farms, that this is really just a way of diverting more funding into larger corporate backed farms.”
“With all of the rhetoric that goes around ‘Make America Healthy’ and all of the rhetoric around caring about farmers, they’re doing exactly the opposite,” he added. “This is harming so many family farms.”
At a time when disruptions to global food supply chains are becoming more frequent, strengthening our local food network is more important than ever. We know that solutions won’t come overnight, but we’re committed to working with our partners, farmers, and communities to find a path forward.
If you want to help, consider donating to Farm Fresh RI to keep local food on local tables; buy directly from local farmers through CSAs, at a farmers market near you, or on Market Mobile; and advocate for food system funding in your community.
Together, we can keep our local food network strong.
Photo courtesy of The Boston Globe
For media inquiries, please contact communications@farmfreshri.org
