The Trump administration recently pulled funding for 49 programs designed to help small farmers acquire land and get started, including five in California.

Community projects funded by the Increasing Land, Capital and Market Access program came to a halt in the Bay Area, the Central Coast, Fresno, Santa Ana and San Diego. The $300 million program directed 40% of its aid to underserved farmers, many in rural areas.

Colleen Hotchkiss, sustainable agriculture specialist for the Alameda County Resource Conservation District, said the abrupt termination letter laid out the administration’s reasons.

"Our intention to prioritize underserved producers did not align with the USDA's current priorities of unity, equality, meritocracy and colorblindness," Hotchkiss explained.

The termination letter also claimed many of the programs distributed too little aid to farmers. Hotchkiss noted the program in Alameda County had only spent $30,000 out of the $480,000 grant because the federal officials froze funds and slow-walked approvals.

She added her agency was forced to cancel one program to lease city-owned properties in Oakland and Hayward to small producers and another providing microgrants.

"Minigrants of even $2,000 to $3,000 are very impactful for small farms that have difficulty accessing traditional funding like Farm Service Agency loans and things like that," Hotchkiss observed.

The Agriculture Department tried to terminate the same grant last year to one other program in California, a small nonprofit farming collective based in El Sobrante called Agroecology Commons. The collective sued, so the contract is technically still in place while the litigation plays out.

Source: Public News Service