USDA Funding Freeze Puts Family Farmers and Food Hubs at Risk

Vint Hill, VA – Family farmers across the United States are facing unprecedented uncertainty due to a federal funding freeze by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Thousands of farmers across the country have not been reimbursed for high quality food they have already delivered to schools, food banks, and local pantries and do not know whether USDA-funded contracts they have for the 2025 crop year will be honored. Local distributors and food hubs that producers rely on to get their products to market efficiently have already  paid their farmers but are not being reimbursed, putting those crucially important businesses in jeopardy.  As February and March mark the most critical planning months for farmers—determining what to plant, how much to plant, and where to sell their crops—the lack of communication from the USDA on program funding threatens their ability to make informed decisions. Without clarity, many farmers will struggle to secure necessary investments and loans to sustain their operations.. We’re calling on the USDA to release allocated funding for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program  so that thousands of farmers, food hubs, and necessary supply chain businesses can get back to what they are doing well — providing high quality local food to their neighbors while growing rural economic opportunities. 

“During Covid, the nation realized that rebuilding regional food systems in an uncertain world is a national security issue,” said Tom McDougall, CEO of 4P Foods in Warrenton, VA. “Americans feeding Americans ensures our families and our school children get nutritious, delicious farm fresh produce and protein no matter what happens with international tariffs and national supply chains.” The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the fragility of the nation’s food system, leading to the expansion of food hubs—businesses that help farmers aggregate, market, and distribute their products to a variety of customers, including restaurants, schools, childcare centers, universities, and senior living facilities.  The Eastern Food Hub Collaborative (EFC) is a coalition of 16 food hubs working up and down the Eastern seaboard. From a network of over 1,500 small and mid-size family run farms, we purchase and distribute food grown in our communities, expanding market opportunities while promoting operational efficiency with cold chain and transportation infrastructure and keeping dollars in local communities. 

Over the past four years, EFC food hubs across 10 states have collectively purchased from more than 1,500 producers, supplying fresh food to schools, childcare centers, and food agencies. The total sum of these purchases equates to $37 million annually, generating an annual economic impact of $55.5 million across the East Coast. Purchases through LFPA keep food dollars in local communities, creating new opportunities in often overlooked rural areas. 

In 2025, states and tribal nations within EFC’s reach were slated to deploy $65,673,288 in LFPA funds and $108,319,810 in LFS funds. This freeze comes at a time when farmers rely on food hubs to mitigate risk and secure stable market channels at the start of the growing season. “We’ve used LFPA dollars in both North and South Carolina to ready farmers, especially new and beginning farmers, for our wholesale market channels ” says Erin Bradley of Freshlist, a food hub in Charlotte, NC. According to the 2022 USDA Agriculture Census, the average age of the American farmer is now 58.1 years, and the number of mid-career farmers has dropped by 9%. With farmer suicide rates five times higher than the national average, this uncertainty only adds to the immense pressure they already face. “The contracts we have at Freshlist for purchasing from our farm network for food assistance allow farmers of all stages of their career a certainty in sales, allowing them to invest in and expand their operations.”

That stability is threatened by the uncertainty around this program’s future. As the United States seeks to strengthen domestic food production in response to rising tariffs on imported goods, it is crucial to support local farmers. 

For more information, please contact: Tom McDougall (tom@4pfoods.com , 703-732-6664) of 4P Foods or, for specific state or regional insights, any of the food hub contacts on the page below.

GrowFood taps into the existing assets of small-scale agriculture to help create a stronger rural economy, spurring job creation, and building capacity in rural communities by connecting farm businesses to the thriving local food movement. While mainly focused on Charleston and the surrounding Lowcountry, GrowFood delivers and supports farmers all across the state of South Carolina. We work with some of the state’s best known chefs and mixologists to provide high quality food, the same food being distributed through our HeadStart family box program. 

USDA Programs that EFC Member Food Hubs Participate In

The USDA favors reimbursement based grants meaning that awardees spend upfront and get reimbursed back from the USDA for purchases they’ve already made. This is what makes freezes very hard on small farmers and businesses. Food hubs up and down the East Coast have a lot of money tied up with no idea when or if they will get paid. This is a list of programs EFC members are a part of and awaiting clarification and funds for. While our focus is on LFPA, individual members are able to answer questions on any of the following programs that affect their hubs. If you’re interested in who you should be contacting about a specific program, please reach out to Erin Bradley at Freshlist and she can help direct you to the hub you need to speak with. 

Local Food Purchasing Agreement- The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) uses non-competitive cooperative agreements to provide up to $900 million of American Rescue Plan (ARP) and Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funding for state, tribal and territorial governments to purchase foods produced within the state or within 400 miles of the delivery destination to help support local, regional and underserved producers. This funding supplied both food for community organizations and dollars to bolster the purchasing of local food by school systems across the country.

The purpose of this program is to maintain and improve food and agricultural supply chain resiliency. This program was initially funded through ARPA for 2022 and 2023 for most states. CCC paid for 2024 and 2025. States were sent agreement contracts for 2025 also known as LFPA25 in December and those were returned prior to the Inauguration.  

Local Food Promotion Program– The Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP) is a grant making program underneath the Local Agriculture Marketing Program (LAMP). LAMP is a Farm Bill mandated program designed to increase market access for family farmers. This program has been around since 2014 and has helped expand countless small food businesses and nonprofits across the country. 

Regional Food System Partnership Program– The Regional Food System Partnership Program (RFSP) is a grant making program underneath the Local Agriculture Marketing Program (LAMP). LAMP is a Farm Bill mandated program designed to increase market access for family farmers. The RFSP program started in 2020 and supports partnerships that connect public and private resources to plan and develop local or regional food systems. 

Regional Food Business Center– The USDA Regional Food Business Centers support farms and food businesses to create new market opportunities, enhance competitiveness, and strengthen their regional supply chains. In partnership with USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, the Regional Food Business Centers are operated by lead organizations and partner networks embedded across each region. They offer technical assistance, capacity building awards, and coordinate services to catalyze the growth of regional food economies.This program was launched in 2023 to provide targeted services for farmers and agriculture businesses. Each region is at a different stage of implementation, but many have already issued grants to small- and mid-sized farmers who are planning on that money to assist with projects in 2025. 

Regional Food System Infrastructure Grant- The purpose of the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) program is to build resilience in the middle of the food supply chain, to provide more and better markets to small farms and food businesses, to support the development of value-added products for consumers, fair prices, fair wages, and new and safe job opportunities. These funds were Congressionally mandated through ARPA and were sent to states and territories to their departments of agriculture. The idea being that the states could best determine what needs their state has and choose to fund projects around those needs. Each state is in a varying stage of completion on this grant, but most of them have not sent out any of the awarded funds. 

Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities Cooperative Agreements – This is a five year, $3.1 billion investment by the USDA in public-private partnerships to mitigate the effects of climate change. This program was launched in 2024 and has been implemented to varying degrees nationwide. 

Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program – This is a public/private partnership grant funded and managed by the USDA to assist organizations in expanding healthy food at farmers markets and through produce prescription programs. Many Double Up Bucks programs that llow nationwide are either currently or have in the past operated with the financial support of GusNIP funding. These programs allow SNAP recipients to swipe their card and receive additional funds to use with farmers.