Local food and farm programs react to cuts

Several local food programs that supported small farms and saw federal funding terminated as part of ongoing cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration.

The Illinois Equitable Access Towards Sustainable Systems, or IL-EATS, saw its federal funds disappear in March as part of a funding freeze.

It is part of the USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Program.

According to the University of Illinois Extension, an IL-EATS partner, in its first year the grant paid 176 farmers in Illinois a total of $16.2 million for their products.

LaShawn Miller, founder of Finding Justice: A Food and Vegetable Garden, which has locations on the west side of Chicago, said the organization is in its sixth growing season. IL-EATS purchased food from the farm to supply a local food bank, and Finding Justice also sells at farmers markets.

“We are an urban farm that teaches that food is medicine, and we want to connect people to a food source and educate everyone who will listen on how to eat,” she said.

Miller said the cost of food is rising, and people can’t make enough money to keep up. She also noted that with tariffs, supplies may become limited.

She sees a place for local food in that landscape.

“Eating hyperlocal food is beneficial to health,” Miller said.

She said they will be able to sell fruits and vegetables to families through IL-EATS through the end of September. When that program stops, they will have to start selling produce at wholesale price to keep themselves in business.

Miller said two of the benefits of the program are that they paid fair price for produce and purchased at a high volume and it helped people get food who needed it most.

The budget reconciliation bill signed by President Donald Trump July 4 will also have an effect on local food funding.

The bill ends funding nationwide for SNAP-Ed, a program focused on improving diet quality and physical activity and increasing food access.

Trinity Allison, University of Illinois Extension SNAP-Ed senior program lead, says that SNAP-Ed has been a program in Illinois for over 30 years.

According to an Illinois Extension news release from June 26, “Each year, SNAP-Ed reaches over 1 million Illinois residents, working with over 1,800 community partners across Illinois’ 102 counties, making healthy choices and health food more accessible throughout the state.”

Allison said some of the things that SNAP-Ed does for families include teaching cooking skills and how to stretch their family’s food budget. Allison said the program has historically received strong bipartisan support.

But with funding cuts, Find Food Illinois, a tool developed by SNAP-Ed in collaboration with multiple state agencies, will be lost. This resource helps Illinois residents find available food support resources including farmers markets that accept SNAP benefits.

Allison said filling the gaps that will be left behind from the SNAP-Ed program is a top priority.

“SNAP-Ed has done a great thing,” Allison said. “The staff knows the community and who partners are to create policies for a healthy community. The gaps that will be left behind due to the elimination of SNAP-Ed will be hard to fill.”