Farmers say ending federal programs hurts small producers in New Mexico

The U.S. Department of Agriculture ended federal programs that helped schools and food banks buy local food, leaving some New Mexico farmers who have already planted crops in a bind.

The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program gave money to state and tribal governments to buy food produced within the state or within 400 miles of a delivery destination, while the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program gave states money to make the same kind of food purchases for schools. Both programs were started in 2021 with American Rescue Plan funds to improve the domestic agriculture supply chain. Last week, the USDA canceled $1 billion in purchasing when it ended the programs nationwide.

“As a pandemic-era program, LFPA will now be sunsetted at the end of the performance period, marking a return to long-term, fiscally responsible initiatives,” a USDA spokesperson said in a statement. “This isn’t an abrupt shift — just last week, USDA released over half a billion in previously obligated funds for LFPA and LFS to fulfill existing commitments and support ongoing local food purchases.”

LFPA and LFS agreements for the 2025 fiscal year will be terminated after a 60-day notification, while LFPA and LFPA Plus agreements that were in place prior to the 2025 fiscal year will remain in effect, according to USDA. Federal fiscal year 2025 began in October and ends Sept. 30.

New Mexico farmers say the programs provided a steady stream of revenue in an unstable industry.

“It’s mid-March. Food is in the ground, seedlings are in the greenhouse, with the intention of them going to the Food Depot, with the intention of these seeds already planted going to our school lunches, and now the funding has been cut,” Juliana Ciano with Reunity Resources, a nonprofit vegetable farm in Santa Fe, said during a roundtable hosted by Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Luján at Roadrunner Food Bank on Monday. “We have been planning on this for months, and the work and investment from farmers has already taken place.”

The Food Depot is a food bank that serves nine counties in northern New Mexico.

Approximately 30% of Reunity Resources’ budget came from the federal programs, Ciano said. The farm planted crops that food banks said were needed and has pivoted its business strategy over the last few years to support the LFPA program.

For the 2025 fiscal year, USDA planned to spend nearly $5.7 million for LFS and $2.8 million for LFPA on New Mexico, according to an archived USDA webpage. The Pueblo of Zuni was supposed to get $77,855, and the Navajo Nation was supposed to get $2.1 million from LFPA in the 2025 fiscal year.

MoGro Mobile Grocery, a nonprofit that purchases locally produced food and then distributes it to communities from Española to Socorro, had a $120,000 contract in 2024 specifically from the LFPA program to get local produce into communities, according to Executive Director Mateo Carrasco. Of that funding, $98,000 went directly to farmers, Carrasco said.

“Programs like these keep farmers farming. They stabilize the very scary up-and-down reality of farming,” Ciano said.

The program gave the next generation of farmers and ranchers an opportunity to come back home and enter the industry, according to Manny Encinias, who owns the Buffalo Creek Ranch in Moriarty, and has participated in LFPA for three years. While farming and ranching are generational traditions for many in New Mexico, young people usually don’t pursue the profession because there is not enough economic opportunity, according to Encinias. LFPA offered farmers a revenue stream and a way to give back to people in need.

“This is just truly a demonstration of a successful model that, like I keep telling people, is already making America great again.”

Food banks will also have to pivot without the program.

“The food banks will step into the gap, because we always do. … We can’t replace $3 million that comes from a federal source to buy exclusively local food,” said Food Depot Executive Director Jill Dixon. “So it means some of that really critical nutrition that we were talking about that people have never seen in their homes or seen in a limited way won’t be there any longer, and maybe that means that bulk potatoes bought out of Washington take its place.”

Luján, who sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee, led a letter with Democratic colleagues Sens. Adam Schiff of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Jean Shaheen of New Hampshire and 31 of his Senate colleagues, including Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, asking USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins to reverse course.

“At a time when food insecurity remains high, providing affordable, fresh food to food banks and families while supporting American farmers is critical,” the letter reads.