BOSTON — Before the Trump administration canceled it last year, Sunder Ashni said a federal program connecting small farmers with local food access groups was directly benefiting Mumbet’s Freedom Farm in Sheffield.
Since then, she has seen food access in her region shift and a financial impact that has forced her to lay off staff.
“There was that impact of like, having to let people go because I didn’t have the opportunity to keep paying them,” Ashni said Thursday. “It just had a huge impact on my ability to function and operate in the ways that I want to. And of course, that has an impact on production as well, because I can only do so much as a small farmer.”
The Local Food Purchasing Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) provided about $14 million of funds to Massachusetts starting in 2023, which went to 31 Massachusetts organizations addressing food insecurity, according to Ayn Yeagle, executive director of food systems nonprofit Growing Places. Through the program, local food was purchased from 630 unique farmers, producers and fishermen, 53% of whom were from historically underserved communities.
The program was intended to support smaller producers of specialty crops — anything that’s not a “commodity crop,” like corn, beef and soy — and help get that produce to people experiencing food insecurity, Yeagle said.
Born initially of American Rescue Plan Act funds, LFPA’s second round of funding came from Commodity Credit Corporation funds out of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Yeagle said. The Trump administration canceled the third round of program funding, which had been set to take effect in May 2025, last March.
While the administration funded the program through the second round, it said LFPA and a Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program “no longer effectuate the goals” of the USDA, per The Hill’s reporting, which put a $1 billion price tag on the two programs combined.
There was $19.3 million in statewide economic impact generated from the LFPA investment, Berkshire Grown Executive Director Margaret Moulton said. Local food was distributed to more than 700 locations across the state, and 98% of those distribution sites were in underserved communities.
Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier said the program has been serving 6,700 individuals every week in Pittsfield, accounting for 15% of her city’s total population.
Moulton, Yeagle and others who utilized the program are requesting that lawmakers include $7 million in the fiscal year 2027 budget to create a state-run version. The organizations said in a Jan. 16 letter to Gov. Maura Healey that they would work to match the $7 million “with support from corporate philanthropy.”
One in three Massachusetts households are experiencing food insecurity, organizers said. If the program isn’t included in the budget, Moulton said, “It looks like less product purchased from fewer farmers, and less local food and milk delivered to food pantries.”
Under the program, Berkshire Grown bought from farmers and distributed produce to food pantries through a partner organization. When the program was canceled, many farmers were already beginning to plan their crops and buy their seeds. Without the reliability of future purchasing, the farmers saw a hit to their bottom line, Moulton said.
Each organization applied individually to the program, creating flexibility, she explained. While Berkshire Grown directly bought the food from the farmers and got it to pantries, other groups included things like door-to-door delivery for people without transportation.
If the state were to implement a similar program, Moulton said there would likely be a fund, managed through the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, which could function like LFPA did — organizations could apply for funding for their programs, and money could be awarded from there.
Berkshire Grown’s farm-to-food access program still functions, she said, but at a lower capacity.
“During LFPA+, the second [round], we were spending $45,000 to $50,000 a month buying food. Right now, we spend about $14,500,” Moulton said, adding that the outlay includes funds donated to the group. “It’s a huge drop. It impacts the farmers, because we’re buying less, and it impacts the food pantries, because they’re getting less local food.”
Ella Adams is a reporter for the State House News Service and State Affairs Massachusetts. Reach her at ella.adams@statehousenews.com.