Food banks across Nevada will continue to have access to fresh produce grown by local farmers after lawmakers funded the popular Home Feeds Nevada program for another two years.
Since 2022 the Home Feeds Nevada program has allowed food banks to buy millions of pounds in fresh produce, meats, and dairy from Nevada farms and ranches — all paid in full using state and federal funds.
The program has come a long way since its first order and delivery of 600 pounds of tomatoes from Blue Lizard Farm to Three Square food bank in Southern Nevada three years ago. But major cuts in federal funding by the Trump administration, including nearly $4 million for food banks in Nevada, threatened to end the program.
State Sen. Fabian Doñate, a Las Vegas Democrat, quickly amended Senate Bill 233 to include an additional $800,000 in funding for Home Feeds Nevada. The original bill only included a request for a study on how to sustain the program long term.
The bill received bipartisan support and was signed into law by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo this month.
“While it’s not nearly enough compared to what we have invested before, and there’s millions of dollars that have been lost thoroughly, the allocation that we have at least continues the program to some extent versus eliminating it completely,” Doñate said.
Home Feeds Nevada has fueled Nevada’s agricultural sector while feeding low-income families and children across the state, purchasing more than $8 million in agricultural goods from small local farms and ranches since 2022.
Rodney Mehring, the owner of Blue Lizard Farm, which fulfilled the first order under the program, said the program has been transformational for local farms. With a new injection of funding on the horizon he plans to grow tomatoes, beets, carrots, and summer squash for the program.
“We’re glad that the legislature supported our request for funding,” Mehring said. “We feel very lucky.”
He continued:m“Even though there’s a shortage in funding for the state, they felt that it was important to help farmers have more consistent sales and the best part of the program is that it goes to supporting people in need and helping food banks.”
Home Feeds Nevada has given small family-owned producers like Blue Lizard Farm the security to scale-up and expand, even as inflation and supply chain issues have increased overhead costs for producers.
The vast majority of Nevada farms are family-owned, according to the Department of Agriculture, making up about 93% of producers in the state. But that can put Nevada’s agricultural sector at a disadvantage, as small farms often lack access to the federal subsidies and resources that support larger farms.
Part of the limited help small local farms did receive ended when the U.S. Department of Agriculture axed two programs that funded local food purchasing assistance. Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit earlier this month against the agency to restore federal funding.
Mehring said he hopes Nevada gets involved in the Pennsylvania lawsuit to restore the $4 million in funding Nevada was set to receive for local food purchasing assistance before it was clawed back by the Trump administration.
“I just find it to be absolutely cruel that you would cut funds from food banks and food programs that assist needy Americans, it’s just ridiculous. I mean, of all programs to keep on the books, I think that would be at the top of the list,” Mehring said.
Food bank operators in Nevada said they were grateful to Lombardo for signing the bill. Home Feeds Nevada gives food banks the ability to tap into locally sourced agricultural goods they can’t get elsewhere, including fresh produce, high quality meats, and dairy.
“No question that this was a session where budgets were tight. In a really difficult budget year, I’m just really happy that this was on the list of priorities, and that the legislature and the governor were able to find funding for it,” said Beth Martino, the CEO of Three Square.
Since Home Feeds Nevada launched, Three Square has purchased nearly 2 million pounds of fresh produce and protein from Nevada farmers and producers, said Martino.
Demand at food banks is only growing, she added. Food insecurity in Southern Nevada has surged nearly 40% since 2023, and recent federal funding cuts have made it incredibly difficult for Three Square to meet the growing need.
In Southern Nevada—1 in 6 people—are food insecure, according to findings from Feeding America’s 2025 Map the Meal Gap study.
“We are seeing a classic supply and demand problem. Between cuts at the federal level and increased demand we are starting to see some shortages in what we have available. We have less food on the shelves now than we need to meet the demand that is in our community,” Martino said.
“Every pound of food that comes in the door is important to us at this point,” she continued.
Shane Piccinini, the director of government relations for the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, said that same demand is reflected in northern Nevada. The Food Bank of Northern Nevada is currently serving about 160,000 people every single month, a 28% increase since 2022.
Piccinini said as other nutrition and welfare programs are cut by the Trump administration under the reconciliation bill Nevada will be an increase in food insecurity. Nevada will have to take on more of that burden, including funding Home Feeds Nevada, Piccinini said.
“As of right now, the money the legislature appropriated to Home Feeds Nevada is all there is,” Piccinini said. “We definitely want to see dedicated funding to this program, which the other half of this bill sets up a committee to do exactly that, to identify a funding source that would be dedicated to Home Feeds Nevada.”
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