Wisconsin received notice last Friday that the USDA is abruptly terminating the 2025 Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA) mid-implementation, which will cause lasting harm to nearly 300 local farms in Wisconsin and the food pantries that depend on their food.
From 2023 to 2024, the LFPA program supported over $4 million in purchases from small growers and provided distribution support to deliver farm products to food pantries and schools. A total of 289 farms participated, providing $4.2 million worth of food to 254 pantries.
The Local Food for Schools (LFS) program—a $3.4 million initiative funded by the USDA and administered by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction—is also being terminated. This includes funding for Early Care and Education Programs, which will also be eliminated. LFS helps local schools purchase food directly from farmers.
“Producers have already invested in seeds, inputs, and infrastructure to meet anticipated demand based on USDA and state plans for 2025 implementation,” said Darin Von Ruden, President of Wisconsin Farmers Union, which played a key role in farmer outreach and engagement for the program statewide. “Cutting this funding now not only disrupts their operations but also weakens the entire local food system that serves schools, food pantries, and communities in need.”
“Wisconsin has seen the profound positive impact of small farms feeding their communities healthy, local food through Wisconsin’s LFPA,” added Lori Stern, Executive Director of Marbleseed. “Farmers gained access to a reliable wholesale market and were able to grow their farm businesses. Beyond seeds, farmers have ordered chicks, feed, fencing, and invested in on-farm cold storage, significant investments for small farms that have now lost significant revenue they were counting on.”
The Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative of Waupaca, which is owned by farmers and serves over 400 Wisconsin farmers as a provider of transport and distribution services under LFPA, has rented trucks, expanded staff, and coordinated supply with farmers in preparation for 2025, based on USDA and state assurances of continued implementation.
“If the LFPA is not restored, years of building the local farmer-to-market infrastructure that the farmer-owned Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative has built for farmers with government investment will be completely thrown out the window,” says Tara Turner-Roberts, cooperative member and General Manager of the Food Hub. Turner-Roberts adds “LFPA and LFS has really helped strengthen markets for farm products and provided transport and logistics. Without the LFPA and LFS funding it will take years for farmers to build a dependable and effective local foods distribution system in Wisconsin”.
“Feeding Wisconsin food banks work with over 260 partners and producers to distribute over 155,000 pounds of Wisconsin food products purchased with LFPA funds to Wisconsinites experiencing food insecurity,” said Jackie Anderson, Executive Director of Feeding Wisconsin. “At a time of significantly increased need for food bank services, coupled with limited resources for the charitable food network and local food producers, we are concerned and disheartened by the elimination of the LFPA program. This is an important source of support for our Wisconsin producers and a point of access to fresh, local foods for neighbors. This program provides a solution to one of the biggest challenges for Wisconsin farmers — market access. We will continue to work with our local agriculture producers to advocate for the continuation of programs at the state and federal levels. We are hopeful that the USDA and the new Secretary of Agriculture will prioritize the needs of Wisconsinites experiencing food insecurity in future programs, and we look forward to working alongside our state and regional offices to develop such initiatives.”
“As Wisconsinites, we are incredibly proud of our agricultural heritage and will always support and celebrate local, family-owned producers,” said Matt King, CEO of Hunger Task Force. “This program was particularly important to small farmers because it helped them have a guaranteed market for a portion of their products which gave them the security to scale up and expand their business. Despite this setback, we will continue to prioritize access to healthy food and support Wisconsin farmers through our work to feed children, families and seniors in need of emergency food.”
Testimonials from farmer participants and evaluations of the LFPA and LFS impacts demonstrate that these programs have significantly improved small farm viability. Eliminating them will be devastating to the future of Wisconsin’s local food system.
Wisconsin Farmers Union has created an advocacy portal to make it easy for supporters to take action. We invite you to sign on to a pre-written letter (or write your own) that advocates for continued funding for Wisconsin’s LFPA. You can access the portal at: https://www.wisconsinfarmersunion.com/action.
