Dear Editor,
Recent cuts by the USDA to local agriculture, including cuts to farm-to-school and early childhood education (ECE) programs, have caused a great deal of concern. Funding already approved to go to local farms has been stopped, while billions of subsidies for large industrial farms are honored. Farm-to-school programs enable more schools and ECE programs to serve local food, which is fresher, and thus tastier and more nutritious. Other funding cuts have affected our small organic farms.
This funding would have contributed to the viability and profitability of local farms, which returns far more money to the local economy than large commodity farms and agribusinesses do. The timing of the cuts is especially bad for farmers, as seeds have already been purchased, in some cases planted, for the crops for these now unfunded programs.
What can we do? In addition to contacting our Congressional representatives (personal stories are often most effective), we can act by purchasing as much food locally as possible. We can contact our Vermont State representatives in support of including in the budget two programs – CropCashPlus and Farm Share – that ensure that Vermonters with low incomes can purchase fresh local food from Vermont farms. We also can buy directly from farmers at their farm stands or at stores, such as co-ops, which carry locally grown and raised food.
A particularly impactful way to purchase from local farms is by signing up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share. Different farms have various models and sizes of shares, including prepaid farmstand options where one can choose exactly which foods one prefers. Farms in this area offering CSAs can be found on the online guide, www.vitalcommunities.org/directory/guide-tag/csa-farmshare.
To learn more about local agriculture as well as the farm-to-school and early childhood education program, check out these organizations: Vermont Farm to School, New Hampshire Farm to School, VermontFEED, Vital Communities’ Food and Farm Program, and Salvation Farms. Look for updates on the current situation and possible further action steps. Together we can support local farmers in feeding the community, thus contributing to the local economy and keeping our lands open and productive.
Sincerely,
Debra L. Diegoli
Weathersfield, Vt.