USDA cuts $13 million program for Western Slope farmers, food banks, schools | Western Colorado

More than $13 million, which benefited 30 Western Slope agricultural producers, food banks and food access in schools, vanished Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture canceled those funds, which supported Colorado’s Local Food Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program and Local Food for Schools & Child Care Agreement Program.

According to local ranchers, food aggregators and food insecurity providers, the sudden decision will shrink the amount and variety of produce that hunger relief agencies can provide, but it will also spur economic losses across western Colorado.

“I’m very concerned for some of our smaller farms who have been relying on these purchases,” Mountain Freshies Co-Founder and Owner Nancy Scheinkman said. “I am working hard to try and create some new institutional buyers … that can maybe replace some of it, but nothing is on my radar right now that’s going to come close. It’s a large portion of their business and of our business.”

Mountain Freshies is a food aggregator, partnering with small and medium farms, mostly located in the North Fork Valley and Western Slope, to distribute their crops across the state.

“A challenge for the farms is that they’ve already purchased seed for this year. They already have growing plans in place,” she added. “So I’ve had to get on the phone with them and say, look, this funding has now been pulled; you should not be growing for us and planning on it for this summer. It’s sending them into a bit of a tailspin.”

The Local Food Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program was established in 2022, and through three full funding cycles, the program has been integrated into operations for many local farms, food banks and school districts.

Food Bank of the Rockies Western Slope Director Sue Ellen Rodwick said prior to the Local Food Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, the food bank was sourcing around 188,000 pounds of local products. By 2023, that amount had quadrupled.

She added that the program bolstered food banks’ purchasing power and provided small, often financially vulnerable, farms with stable buyers. In total, the food bank’s Local Food Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program purchases have put more than a million dollars in the pockets of Western Slope ranchers and farmers.

According to Rodwick, the program also drastically diversified the produce that food banks could provide.

“One of the big changes was that we were able to start purchasing ground beef,” Rodwick said. “It’s huge to have quality protein going to families who need it.”

VanWinkle Ranch Co-Owner Janie VanWinkle said they partnered with Food Bank of the Rockies via Local Food Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program to provide almost 50,000 pounds of beef each year.

Western Slope Food Bank of the Rockies Director Sue Ellen Rodwick, left, and VanWinkle Ranch Co-Owner Janie VanWinkle pose for a photo celebrating their relatively new partnership on the local ranch. According to VanWinkle, the ranch sold upwards of 50,000 pounds of beef to the food bank through the Local Food Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program – which was canceled Wednesday by the USDA.

Courtesy of Food Bank of the Rockies

The designated funds enabled the food bank to purchase more than common crops, like sweet corn and apples. Rodwick added that they have since added chiles, cabbage, melons, tomatoes, bell peppers, tomatillos, spinach, plums, raspberries, lettuce, herbs and more.

Without the program, Rodwick said they will depend on other funding sources to continue local purchases. The future is uncertain, but she said it likely won’t be possible to continue all 30 Western Slope partnerships without detracting from the amount of meals they can provide.

“If people want to be a part of the solution, they’re welcome to donate,” Rodwick said. “Right now we have a match going on, so every dollar donated will provide enough food for six meals. We’re always looking for volunteers to help, both here at our warehouse or at one of our mobile pantries across the Western Slope.”

On the agricultural side, Scheinkman said the Local Food Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program had notable industry impacts, creating a guaranteed market for ‘seconds,’ reducing food waste and providing the profits necessary to improve farm safety and employee stability.

‘Seconds’ are produce with minor blemishes or physical defects that are as edible as the food in a grocery store. However, most retailers avoid purchasing them because they are generally less appealing to customers.

Prior to LFPA, Scheinkman said the market for seconds was minimal.

“You don’t want to be sorting (crops) and setting them in a cooler without a buyer, because then they degrade … which greatly reduces the value of that whole crop and reduces morale for the farm,” she said. “These (Local Food Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program) grant recipients are typically open and eager to purchase seconds because the cost is less expensive for them.”

Those purchases consequently lowered food waste on farms. According to Scheinkman, food waste is “heartbreaking” but not uncommon, given the unpredictability of harvests. Unexpected abundances, or “bumper crops” are typically dumped at the end of the season if not purchased.

In 2023, Scheinkman said much of the Western Slope had substantial bumper crops of peaches, which typically would have been disposed and written off as a loss by September.

Because of the Local Food Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, however, a majority of the surplus was purchased and made available to locals struggling with food insecurity.

Because of the expanded seconds market and reduction in food waste, Scheinkman said many farmers were seeing unprecedented fiscal stability.

“What are they doing with those revenues? Well, the first thing that they’re doing is reinvesting back into their farm,” she said. “They’re purchasing equipment that they couldn’t previously afford.”

“It also really helps with employee stability,” Scheinkman added. “Most farms cannot pick all the fruit themselves, so the families will end up doing incredibly long hours, which is very wearing after months and months of harvesting. To be able to hire legal workers, provide them with stability and have them coming back year after year makes a huge impact.”

Those impacts will shrink soon if there isn’t a rapid solution, according to Scheinkman.

At the same time, VanWinkle said those impacts will bleed into the Western Slope economy.

Because the Western Slope produced more beef than was locally purchased (prior to the Local Food Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program), VanWinkle said surplus cattle would be shipped to an out-of-state processing facility. That was no longer the case after the Local Food Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program started, but it will happen again with the program’s cancelation.

Courtesy of Food Bank of the Rockies

VanWinkle Ranch is one of 30 local agricultural producers who partnered with Food Bank of the Rockies through the Local Food Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which the USDA defunded Wednesday.

Courtesy of Food Bank of the Rockies

“We have a small USDA processor here in the community, Mountain Meats,” VanWinkle said. “That’s local jobs through the processor, then local truck drivers picked it up from the processor, took it to the food bank, and it’s distributed right there.”

“Those cattle will go out of our community, and frankly, the jobs are then out of our community.”

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