Farmers Meet With Sen. Shaheen To Share Federal Funding Freeze Challenges

LITTLETON — Community impacts and uncertainty from federal funding freezes went to a roundtable discussion on Wednesday at the Littleton Food Co-op, where local farmers and food program administrators met with U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, to discuss their challenges and consider possible paths forward.

Participants included owners and representatives of Joe’s Brook Farm in Barnet, Meadowstone Farm in Bethlehem, Tellman Hill Farm in Whitefield, Super Secret Ice Cream in Bethlehem, the municipal food pantry in Bethlehem, the New Hampshire Food Bank, and UNH Cooperative Extension.

At risk, they say, is funding for healthy food programs that source local food, funding for farm operations and improvements, and critical money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other sources.

It was the second roundtable that Shaheen facilitated in New Hampshire, following a meeting with the food community in Londonderry.

Shaheen’s office began hearing from local farmers after the Trump Administration started freezing programs for some farmers, who raised concerns about impacts to their operations.

Shaheen said she wants to learn more about what everyone is facing to address the challenges and engage everyone who can help.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty about what’s happening at the federal level,” she said.

One bright spot, said Shaheen, is that she is now the leading Democrat on the Senate’s Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, with the hope that New Hampshire’s agricultural community can obtain more information as a result.

“But uncertainty remains a challenge,” said Shaheen. “So many of the programs are frozen, even those that Congress has appropriated the money for. I hear people say, ‘I’ve gotten this grant, I’ve already spent the money out of pocket, and now I’m not being reimbursed.’ The courts have so far ruled more favorably on those issues, but trying to get the administration to actually distribute the money has been challenging.”

Another uncertainty is there is still no federal farm bill.

In addition, several federal employees who had partnered with states and local communities for agricultural initiatives have been fired, including those who worked on bird flu and other critical issues, said Shaheen.

“All of it boils down to uncertainty for all of you and the people you serve,” she said.

At the Littleton Food Co-op, many customers are lower income and enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, said co-op general manager Ed King.

“That has been defunded somewhat,” said King. “It has made a real difference in how we’re able to provide our services to people who want to eat healthy, but who may not be able to afford organic or afford fresh vegetables. Nutrition is a part of the SNAP program.”

In addition, USDA does a lot of work with food cooperative development

“We are working with other co-ops to help get them started,” said King. “Is that money going to be there? Are we going to be able to grow the cooperative movement here?”

King also noted the “brain drain” that Shaheen cited, those federal workers now fired who had worked with local communities, whom he called the “experts that really are an integral part of small farmers’ development, coaching them, giving them the knowledge that they need to have a successful business.”

“Those people might not come back,” said King. “I’ve talked with a couple of farmers who are concerned about that, who were working with someone who is no longer employed. That was their go-to person. The extension service is still there, but other programs have been defunded.”

The brain drain also has an impact on members of the younger generation looking to become farmers, but who might now be reconsidering, said Shaheen.

A founding member of the Littleton Food Co-op is Mike Claflin, who said the region’s agricultural community has been making much progress in reinvigorating itself and trying to recruit young people to be farmers.

Claflin voiced concerns about the uncertainty of the federal farm bill being signed into law and the spending cuts “just decimating to the farmers and the growers in the area.”

Veronika Travis is the rector of Littleton’s All Saints Episcopal Church, offering a food cupboard to needy residents.

“We are experiencing some of the cuts that are coming downstream to the New Hampshire Food Bank,” said Travis. “Because they’re getting some of their funding cut, things are going to be more expensive for us. Not everything we get from them is free. If we have to pay more for it, then we can’t do things like provide for personal care items for people who need that.”

And although the New Hampshire Feeding New Hampshire grant is only $4,000 for the church, it represents 15 percent of the church’s annual food program funding, said Travis.

The church has bought produce from local farmers at full price because the program has paid farmers, who now face impacts from spending cuts, said Travis.

“We really want to be able to keep supporting our farmers and keep supporting people who are food insecure,” said Travis.

It’s troubling that the programs cut first involved produce, schools, and farmers markets, said Shaheen.

A half-decade ago, Doug Morin and Emily Meacham established Tellman Hill Farm, which has benefited from several programs.

“None of these are handouts,” said Morin. “These are cost shares, reimbursements, and asking us to do more in exchange for some funds.”

Tellman Hill Farm had been selected by the state to receive a $250,000 Resilient Food System Infrastructure grant to construct a new building.

“We have no infrastructure on our farm,” said Morin. “This would be a fundamentally life-changing thing and we have no idea about whether that’s going to come or not. Apparently, USDA is acting as if it is, but the people we’re talking to can’t guarantee anything.”

The new building would be a facility shared with other farmers to boost the entire supply chain in the region.

Morin and Meacham have a builder and a schedule, though at a time when federally imposed tariffs are changing the price of materials.

Another program through which they were to be awarded $45,000 to fund a new fence has disappeared, said Morin.

“It gives us a sense of insecurity,” he said.

Eric Skovsted owns Joe’s Brook Farm with his wife, Mary.

Spending cuts impact food sold to schools and other community partners, said Skovsted.

“It affects the most the farmers who are just getting started,” he said. “We’ve been doing it for a while. Access to those types of accounts early on is critical.”

Programs like Climate Start have been beneficial, said Skovsted, who added that his brother-in-law just bought his own Vermont dairy farm and was all set to go with Climate Start, until it was pulled from him.

“Climate programs have been the number one target of this administration, to get rid of anything climate-related,” said Shaheen. “That puts us at a disadvantage.”

“I’m involved in starting a food co-op in St. Johnsbury,” said Skovsted. “We were relying a lot on USDA Rural Development funding and working toward getting our community facilities loan possible and making some progress, and then everyone was fired. Starting a co-op is one of the hardest things in the world, other than starting a farm, and all the people that you’ve built those relationships with disappear. It’s just been a struggle. I’m devastated.”

Dawn Ferringo manages the municipal food pantry for the town of Bethlehem, which keeps stocks of fresh produce and locally raised meat throughout much of the year so it’s available to lower-income residents.

“It removes the stigma of going to a food pantry,” said Ferringo. “They walk in and their eyes light up. Fresh green vegetables in the pantry. ‘I’m worth it, someone is thinking about me.’ It would be so sad to not experience that.”

New Hampshire Food Bank money, she said, “has been invaluable to our small community.”

Jeannie Leone, office manager and farmhand with Meadowstone, said climate change funding to make farm operations more resilient for the future has been indispensable for local farmers.

In closing, Shaheen said, “New Hampshire small farms have a local connection to community. That’s the other thing that will be lost if we let our small farms go away.”

Shaheen suggested that stakeholders reach out to New Hampshire Department of Agriculture Commissioner Shawn Jasper as well.

“We’re going to weigh in with the Trump Administration, but sadly, they seem more responsive to members of their own party,” she said. “Commissioner Jasper is somebody who can weigh in with the Trump Administration … to make sure people understand what the impact is … We’re all on the same side. Call the governor’s office, call your legislator, state senator, your local official. Let everybody know what these concerns are because this is a case where we need things to percolate up so people hear it from everybody across the state, from everybody across the country.