A FEDERAL PROGRAM that brought fresh produce from farms directly to low-income families has ended, stripping local farmers of a significant revenue stream and leaving families with one less option.
The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) — a U.S. Department of Agriculture initiative started in 2021 during the pandemic — provided $1 billion annually to help food banks, schools and nonprofits nationwide purchase produce from farmers. Unlike surplus or blemished produce donated to food banks from wholesale distributors, large farms and grocery stores, the federal program provided low-income families with fresh, even organic, fruits and vegetables.
Veggielution, an East San Jose nonprofit community farm, received $1 million in LFPA funds annually to provide 600 families with a box of produce every week. Starting in January, it will scale back to providing produce boxes to 100 families.
Veggielution Executive Director Shawn Gerth is worried about the impacts this will have on East Side families the nonprofit serves.
“It’s a new level of challenge of food insecurity that is markedly different than COVID, because in (the pandemic), we had the federal government stepping up to help out,” Gerth told San José Spotlight. “Now we have the federal government pulling back those resources.”
Wondering where the next meal will come from
One resident, who asked not to be identified for privacy reasons, said the weekly box of produce kept her from worrying about her next meal.
“The boxes were the best and (freshest) produce we get around the Bay,” she told San José Spotlight. “As a single mom, I cannot buy organic stuff because it is expensive. That also affects our health.”
She stopped getting the boxes two years ago after Veggielution changed the territory the boxes served, and has resorted to going to food banks. That produce is often close to spoiling, she said. The challenges with planning for meals is compounding with needing to find another apartment within her cash-strapped budget.
Her rent is $2,400 a month, which she has been able to pay with the help of one of her sons. But that son is moving out, and she said she won’t be able to sustain the monthly payments.
“I think it’s just going to be much more difficult for our East Side community because we already know they’ve got multiple challenges coming at them,” Gerth said. “They’ve got housing challenges coming at them. People are trying to afford child care. People are scared and afraid to go outside when our community has got (federal immigration enforcement agents) coming at them.”
Since 2022, California has received more than $88 million in LFPA funds. But as food insecurity drives more people to food banks, the situation places greater pressure on these providers.
Leslie Bacho, CEO of Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, said the food bank has been increasing food going to community partner sites since November and is prepared to dip into reserves if needed. It’s also added eggs and milk back on the menu.
Second Harvest received $2.8 million from the LFPA program, but funds have nearly run out. The program allowed the food bank to purchase specialty items from small farms such as cilantro, bok choy and organic produce at market rate prices to better meet local needs.
But the federal government’s elimination of the program will disrupt small farmers, as well as the relationships food banks have built with local farms, Bacho said. Second Harvest was able to guarantee it would be able to purchase certain specialty crops from small farms, giving them a reliable market.
Small farmers forced to make adjustments
“It’s really heartbreaking,” Bacho told San José Spotlight. “Think about all of these farmers, where now you have this new market and you can finally invest in developing your farms and your farming practices, and then to have it suddenly go away.”
For specialty organic growers such as Héktor Calderón-Victoria, the federal program constituted a a significant portion of his sales. He started Three Feathers Farm in Morgan Hill four years ago, born out of a passion to provide underserved communities with high-quality produce through sustainable farming practices.
He grows tomatoes, cilantro, peppers, onions, eggplant, bitter melon, corn and other culturally-relevant foods on his 5-acre farm. The program ensured there was little to no spoilage of crops on his farm, he said, especially when he had a large volume of produce ready for consumption.
With the program’s termination, Calderón-Victoria said he’ll have to pivot from doing less wholesale to direct sales, including hosting more “pick your own produce” events at the farm. He may plan to grow less crops next year and see if he can establish new relationships with restaurants and hospitals.
“Finding markets is always the challenging component,” Calderón-Victoria told San José Spotlight. “Producing the food is the reason that we get into farming, and we’re really good at doing it. The hardest part is trying to play this numbers game of whack-a-mole.”
Contact Joyce Chu at joyce@sanjosespotlight.com or @joyce_speaks on X.
This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.