The USDA is ending funding for a pandemic-era program that provides technical assistance to small and mid-sized food and farm operations. The program was only two years into a five-year commitment.
The USDA says it’s terminating the 12 Regional Food Business Centers, including one that serves Arizona. They claim that the prior administration created a financially unsustainable program, though they say they’re honoring certain grants already in process.
But Kimber Lanning with Local First Arizona, which helped lead the Southwest center, says the plan was always meant to be temporary to address industry self-reliance.
“We knew that going into it, we were working towards it. But at the two-year mark, no, as it stands right now we did not have a complete solution to deliver but I would say we weren’t given the agreed upon five years to put that plan in place," Lanning said.
Lanning also says federal officials are biased toward big farms.
“Food in America is not self-sustaining. The biggest farms, massive corporations, get massive amounts of dollars from the federal government year after year after year," Lanning said.
Lanning also says the Trump administration’s newly passed tax-and-policy megabill funnels billions in new money to large-scale producers.
She says the centers will try to tap into other funding sources to stay afloat.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Due to an editing error, this headline has been updated to clarify that the center serves Southwest states.
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