(Radio Iowa) – The U-S-D-A is ending two local food programs this month, which is a financial blow to some eastern Iowa farmers.
The programs helped connect regional food producers with food banks and schools statewide. Funding for the Local Food Purchase Assistance and Local Food for Schools programs was approved under the Biden administration, but is now being cut off. The total revenue for producers in both programs was 360-thousand dollars.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said they were COVID-era programs that needed to be eliminated. Emma Johnson, an owner of Buffalo Ridge Orchard in Central City, says local food will become more expensive without the programs. Johnson says her orchard has roughly 50-thousand pounds of apples that she needs to find a new way to sell.
