USDA funding cuts leave Grinnell local food system vulnerable

In addition to an opportunity to meet baby piglets, the tour of Compass Plant Farm organized by the Center for Prairie Studies on Saturday, April 5, was a chance for the forty students and Grinnell residents who attended to learn about the different ways local foods are generated, as well as how the farm has been impacted by recent national agricultural policy.

The tour was led by Ann Brau, owner of Compass Plant Farm, who discussed the various sustainable agricultural practices the farm utilizes, showing off the chickens, hogs and calves she and her husband, Lisle Dunham, raise.

For Brau, the tour was an opportunity to showcase an alternative to commercial agricultural practices — “[to demonstrate to consumers] what could be done without all the mechanization, without all of the commercial inputs,” Brau said. “And yet we’re still able to provide a whole lot of food — above what we would need to our local community. So there’s no worries about tariffs, there’s no worries about food chain shortages. It’s all right here.”

Brau is one of many farmers who have been impacted by recent federal action. 

“The latest administration is just — if I can say asinine, I will — in their decisions to pull funding that had already been approved, already been legislated and passed by Congress, right out from underneath us,” Brau said.

In March of this year, as part of large spending cuts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) pulled funding from Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) programs. 

Established in 2022, LFPA was a three year program that set aside federal funds for the purchase of goods from local farms to be available at free farm stands, given directly to low-income households or donated to local food pantries. The decision has left small farmers and food assistance programs across the country without a primary source of income.

Grinnell Farm to Table, a local food retail resource that connects Poweshiek County residents with local farmers and producers, was one such beneficiary of LFPA. Through the program, Grinnell Farm to Table was able to increase their annual budget from $30,000 to $100,000.

In a panel held on April 9, Jordan Scheibel `10, food access director for Farm to Table and owner of Middle Way Farm, spoke to the impact of LFPA on the local food system. 

“It really had the effect of driving organization within the food system,” Scheibel said. “Even now that it’s cut, and seemingly not coming back, that’s not gonna go away. That organization and networking and connections that happen, those are permanent.”

To supplement the loss of funding, Grinnell Farm to Table has launched an aggressive fundraising campaign to maintain the same level of programming. 

In addition to USDA cuts, high tariffs on Chinese goods threaten commercial farmers in Iowa who rely on foreign markets to sell locally grown corn and soybean products. Unlike commercial farmers whose commodity crops are subsidized and insured, small farmers are less protected from economic and climate volatility. 

Just this year, Compass Plant Farm decided to stop producing vegetables for the local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group. For Brau and her husband, the costs of protecting crops against high winds and periods of drought and flood outweigh the benefits. 

In response to climate change, many small farmers have had to shift their growing seasons, diversify their crops and pick and choose where to expand. But, Scheibel said, sustainable and organic growing practices have proven themselves to be resilient against climate change. 

“Land that is farmed organically is a little more resilient to some of these extremes because if you have higher organic matter, that mitigates against both drought and flood,” Scheibel said.

“It’s just a long slow arc of growth with a lot of hills and valleys. It’s much better than it used to be,” Brau said. “There’s still a lot of local food and it’s available for more than just one or two or three producers through Grinnell Farm to Table.”

When asked what the consumer can do to support the local food system, Scheibel said, “I would always recommend, if you’re able to, buy locally through Grinnell Farm to Table, and buy directly from farms as well.”