CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – Cuts to federal funding continue to have impacts around our community.
The US Department of Agriculture(USDA) cut grant funding to two programs worth more than one billion dollars. It ended food programs for schools and food banks, fresh food sourced from local farmers.
Those farmers are now trying to come up with new ways to recoup that loss of income.
Freshlist CLT is a one-stop shop for farmers to bring their harvest, which is then sold to some of Charlotte’s top chefs, brewers, bakers and bars.
“Our goal is to help small and mid-sized family farms thrive,” said Erin Bradley, director of strategic partnership at Freshlist.
Wednesday is one of the busiest days for Freshlist with farmers dropping off their goods to fill purchase orders. The company says it purchases from 50 to 70 farmers every week.
A secondary arm of the business was funded through the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement. The money allowed for more fresh food to be bought from farmers to go to food banks and other local groups to help those in need.
“This program allowed them to do that level of food and that feeding work that farmers want to be able to do and still get compensated for it,” Bradley said.
In March, the USDA abruptly ended the program, creating a deficit for farmers and non-profits that relied on the funding.
“It just felt like a gut punch,” said Bradley. “To have to go to those partners and be like hey I don’t have the money to do this anymore you know especially at a time in which people are already struggling to purchase food and to purchase groceries in a normal grocery store was really hard and to not have any details as to why it was being cancelled, just that was really hard.”
Funding from the agency provided about $1 billion to schools and food banks to get food from local farmers across the country. The agency says the programs don’t “effectuate the goals of the agency.”
“I think the hardest impact is going to be on our farming community because they have to put so much into this program,” said Bradley.
Freshlist places the revenue loss to farmers it works with at several million dollars.
Catherine with Wild Hope Farm out of Chester, South Carolina, is one of the farmers taking a hit.
“We’re just kind of having to shift and reallocate our sales. We’re trying to pivot more towards retail as a result of that lack in funding,” said Catherine. “It’s just a bummer because it was giving people that have access to fresh food, like really high-quality stuff, and supporting farms.”
Freshlist is exploring ways to keep its farmers financially secure despite the lack of funding, but remains optimistic about its ability to recover.
“Farmers by nature are very resilient people. They would not do this work if they weren’t,” said Bradley. “But it’s hard when your resilience is constantly being tested.”
Freshlist plans to go back to the General Assembly to get state support for the farm shares program, which would support 19 food hubs across the state and around 400 farmers.
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