In early March 2025, the United States Agricultural Department faced cuts of $11 million to state Local Food Purchasing Assistance programs (LFPA). For local food hub Grinnell Farm to Table, the cut has meant a loss of $80,000 of income annually, according to Director Tommy Hexter `21.
LFPA was created in 2021 with the goal of subsidizing access to local food. The funds went to food banks and “organizations that reach underserved communities,” allowing them to purchase produce from local farmers.
Farm to Table is a non-profit organization that works to connect those in need with local produce through weekly home deliveries, free food stands at the farmers market and donations to local food banks. Jordan Scheibel `10, the food access coordinator for Farm to Table, said that they have been fundraising to combat the loss.
“We are proceeding with our programming because we feel confident about being able to raise the money and that our community can step in to raise it,” Scheibel said.
Hexter re-affirmed the organization’s mission and their goal to stick to it.
“We started planning for this year’s food boxes and all of our food access programs with the assumption that we would have roughly $80,000 to $85,000 from the LFPA program,” Hexter said. “We made those plans with producers and with all the families that received the boxes from us. [They] are expecting this to come, and so acting in that good faith as an organization that’s been here since 2016, we want to make sure we’re continuing moving that way, even though this funding has gotten withdrawn.”
In just three years, the financial support from LFPA transformed local food networks, increasing Farm to Table’s annual budget from $40,000 to $200,000 and creating demand propelling market efficiency.
“Farmers have been able to scale up the production, get much more neat and organized in terms of labeling, packaging,” Hexter said. “A lot of these farmers and the food hubs rely on [LFPA] for like 10 to 15 percent of their income, but that 10 to 15% percent is enough to take a business from making this much every year to making enough to actually reinvest in the business.”
LFPA is not unique in its transformative effects to the agricultural system. Government subsidies for commodity crops have existed since the Great Depression and have allowed for investment towards production efficiency. In the 1930s, corn producers grew about 20 bushels per acre of land, an amount that has increased to 180 bushels of corn per acre today.
Hexter noted that while subsidies to small farms and local produce have been cut, the financial burden has not been shared by his fellows in commodity farming.
“This $11 million for the LFPA was canceled in the state aisle on March 10 — a week later, the Trump administration announced that they were expediting commodity payments to farmers, and in Iowa, those commodity payments totaled $980 million,” Hexter said. “So it’s just funny, they’re sending in $980 million for commodity farmers while canceling $11 million for local food farmers. And it’s like, it’s not really about the money.”
As local farms lose the 10 to 15 percent of reliable income from LFPA, farmers may turn to Farm to Table to connect them with local markets.
“Clearly we grew to fill a need, and that didn’t disappear. So if we’re going to be true to our mission and have integrity, we’re going to keep trying to do exactly what we did,” Scheibel said. “LFPA pushed us to get more organized, get a little bit more forward thinking, to grow our network out a little bit more. LFPA did that, and we’re gonna continue on from there.”
“Our biggest challenge to growing more is going to be funding,” said Hexter. “We are looking at doing some larger fundraising over the next few years to make sure that we have organizational stability, to hire more full time staff, purchase things like a delivery vehicle and make further upgrades to our space capacity. It’s kind of like a flywheel, so once you have a certain level of it going, it’ll keep going on its own, but we kind of need that initial investment to keep us spinning.”
As Farm to Table grows, Scheibel predicts that the organization will have to adapt to meet the needs of the consumer.
“We have a great producer network, but it’s pretty limited. Something that we might run into — if we start to sell a lot more to the retail side, if we really want to grow our food box program — we’re going to start to outstrip the supply of our producers,” Scheibel said. “Our goal is to first serve our local producers. So, we might begin to push them to like, ‘Hey, we need you to actually produce more.’ That’s going to run into their limits, the needs of their time, their land base, their skills. That might end up forcing us into a new role of farmer development.”
In the meantime, Hexter and Scheibel encourage consumers to donate to their local food access fund and purchase local produce when possible. Additionally, the organization is in the process of setting up a volunteer program for community members looking to get involved.
“The number one thing people can do is shop. If you don’t want to shop, then donate directly,” said Hexter. “We have our food access fund. It’s live on our website, grinnellfarmtotable.org. Everything donated there will go towards purchasing food for our food access programming.”
