The USDA is terminating two federal programs and froze nearly $18 million dollars in grants from the Inflation Reduction Act. People who grow good throughout northeastern Minnesota are gathered together at the Northland Food Forum to talk about their struggles. Northland Farmers also discussed where they could find alternative funds.
The USDA are terminating the Local Food for Schools and the Child Care Cooperative Agreement. These two programs provided funds to food banks and schools to buy from local farms. Missy Bakker Roach is the President of St. Louis County Farmers Union and owns Bear River farm. She says the lack of funds impacts more than just farmers, but rural communities throughout the Northland.
“This is a room full of farmers that have great concerns. One of the things that we’re doing is trying to put our heads together to figure out how we can work together. There’s a great need for food shelves in our area,” Bakker Roach said. “Our farm-to-school programs are really popular. Seeing that on the chopping block has been really disheartening and downright scary for a lot of folks. Everybody needs to eat. So we want to make sure that we are putting the connections together to help ride the rough waters”
One program that’s impacted is the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service Agency. They help with providing farming equipment to have high tunnel or upgrades to a greenhouse.
David Abazs and his wife are the co-owners of Round River Farm near Finland. They say, because of the frozen funds it’s delayed their plans to create a high tunnel used to grow their food.
“The unpredictability of the weather is now being matched by the federal government as well. This unpredictability makes farming really difficult,” Abazs said. “But overall, we continue to work at it. We build our soils, we grow our crops, and we keep producing food.”
Now you might be thinking, if Minnesota farmers can’t rely on the federal grants for needed funds, why not turn to relying on state grants?
“We’ll look at the state level to see if we can fill some of that. But we don’t have that kind of money, to do all of that,” Thom Petersen, the Commissioner of Minnesota’s Department of Agriculture said.
The commissioner says meetings like the Northland Food Forum can bring farmers together to make strong community connections, and telling local policy makers why federal funds are needed.
“Every farmer is going to be affected differently by these cuts. Some won’t be at all. Others are going to be deeply impacted,” Petersen said. “So I think that right now they’re kind of in the wait and see process, but they’re really starting to listen.”
Northland farmers looking for other loans and grants, can apply for funds available by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
