{"id":6950,"date":"2025-04-03T06:58:49","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T06:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6950"},"modified":"2025-04-16T05:02:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T05:02:14","slug":"national-women-in-agriculture-day-sounds-alarm-over-usdas-1-billion-cuts-for-local-farm-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6950","title":{"rendered":"National Women in Agriculture Day Sounds Alarm Over USDA\u2019s $1 Billion Cuts for Local Farm Programs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0<span class=\"author vcard\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/author\/ashleigh\/\">Ashleigh Fields<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The National Women in Agriculture Association gathered a group of global women who have sown seeds in every part of the world to discuss the Trump administration\u2019s new policies and its impact on their ability to harness fresh food from the earth\u2019s soil on March 26.<\/p>\n<p>The convening was held in the Cannon House Office Building for National Women in Agriculture Day, where speakers discussed government matters with callers from around the nation and world weighing in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re in a corporate government model now and we are trying to get constitutional principles back. We\u2019re one nation under God. Nature is of God, and humans are of nature,\u201d Deanna O\u2019Connell, who represents Kentucky Women in Agriculture, said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get back to some just basic foundational principles of how we\u2019re not just taxpayers, we\u2019re not just landowners, we\u2019re not just small farmers. We\u2019re literally, you know, natural beings of God.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-1 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-caf9af3267-0\">Held at the end of Women\u2019s History Month, the event was not only about empowering women, but addressing challenges. The meeting comes weeks after the U.S. Department of Agriculture slashed two programs known as the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS) and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The LFS was set to supply $660 million to municipalities in 2025 for fresh produce to be delivered to schools and child care facilities, while the second program would have allocated $500 million this year to food banks who purchase local goods. In addition, LFPS reimburses states who buy food from farmers within the state or within 400 miles of the delivery destination.<\/p>\n<p>Event speakers highlighted the importance of both programs, which ensure that specialty crop farmers can help provide access to non-toxic foods with secure financial support from the federal government.<\/p>\n<p>Farmers who participated in the two terminated programs were required to grow products free of pesticides.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey don\u2019t want us to use any more chemical fertilizers, which means that it\u2019s more expensive, except that it\u2019s healthier, which is good for the growing long run and helps bring down health care costs. That\u2019s fine,\u201d Sharleen O. Jean Baptiste said. \u201cWe decided, let\u2019s make sure that the pricing is right for the farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-2 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-2bd992b9b0-0\">She runs the <a href=\"https:\/\/givinggraceffcoop.org\/\">Giving Grace Farmers &amp; Fishermen Cooperative in Louisiana<\/a>, which aids small farmers in selling their products to food banks that were previously supported by government funds to purchase locally grown food.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Baptiste used her cost analysis research to ensure each producer was able to be paid a fair living wage for their work. The LFPA often used the nonprofit\u2019s numbers to determine price charts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe made the pricing right. We negotiated the price with Greater bank, Mutual Bank. We made that and so we were able to pay the farmer $2 for example, $2.50 per pound for green leafies, okra, $3 a pound,\u201d she told attendees. \u201cThose farmers were being paid on the side of the road, maybe 50 cents to a $1 a pound for those produce, but we were able to make sure that LFPA was on board because we researched the CFR (cost and freight) because that\u2019s part of my background.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-advocating-for-farmers-across-the-south-nbsp\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Advocating for Farmers Across the South\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Baptiste\u2019s non-profit was asked to advocate for farmers in Florida, Mississippi, Texas and Arkansas due to their success in Louisiana.<\/p>\n<p>She found that Mississippi guidelines were fickle and ineffective for the communities they serve.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-3 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-dc2e0e383b-0\">\u201cMississippi only has one food bank, that\u2019s all. They are only able to feed the upper, upper Mississippi, the northern or the Delta, and then the second sector of Mississippi. There\u2019s no food,\u201d Baptiste said of the state.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The directive of the cooperative also emphasized the low pay rates for farmers seeking to sell to local food banks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t pay those farmers 63 cents per pound, and that\u2019s all LFPA under Mississippi was able to pay me,\u201d Baptiste explained.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I said, \u2018I\u2019m not going to be able to do that,\u2019 which means I\u2019m not going to be able to grow my co-op on 63 cents a pound.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Participants explained that stable pricing is essential to maintaining a sound local farm which oftentimes operates as a small business.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Alabama, the LFPA kept changing the price of produce after contracts were signed. It makes it really difficult to do\u00a0 business with the state,\u201d Audrey Haskin of Demopolis, Alabama, said during the event.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-4    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-4 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-ca419f6974-0\"><strong>Combating Challenges\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Now that the LFPA has been terminated nationwide, growers are forced to turn to other resources to support their farms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the most important thing that most people don\u2019t realize is that small farmers, when you go to the store, you buy everything. What price do you pay? Retail. Everything you buy is retail. You don\u2019t get any wholesale prices,\u201d Kelly Jackson, a Florida farmer said. \u201cOnly if you\u2019re a large farmer, you get wholesale prices. So everything that I buy is retail\u2026 Now when I sell it, what prices do I get? Wholesale. And that\u2019s what\u2019s most important, is everybody\u2019s worried about cost. And that\u2019s where these USDA programs come in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many farmers, especially women, struggle to make ends meet with low payouts during harvest seasons.<\/p>\n<p>According to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nass.usda.gov\/Publications\/AgCensus\/2017\/index.php\">2017 Census of Agriculture<\/a>, more than half of all farms, 56%, had a female producer, while 9% of farms were run entirely by women. These female-operated farms accounted for 38% of U.S. agriculture sales and 43% of U.S. farmland.<\/p>\n<p>Women led farmers earn 40% less than farms operated by men according to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/farmland.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/US-Women-in-Ag-Fact-Sheet.pdf\">American Farmland Trust<\/a>.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-5    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-5 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-45854c9b0e-0\">The Women in Agriculture group aim to change that and are now pushing for a closed door meeting with President Donald Trump to explain their needs with hopes of opening up more opportunities.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cSmall farm operators, we need help all the time. We might need a couple loads of dirt. We might have a pump that broke or other issues,\u201d Jackson said.\u00a0 \u201cWe need a line of credit or, maybe some kind of stipend for beginning borrowers to help get them started for basic infrastructure stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Source: Published without changes from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/usda-policies-women-farmers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Washington Informer Newspaper<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0Ashleigh Fields The National Women in Agriculture Association gathered a group of global women who have sown seeds<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6951,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[255,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america-under-attack","category-regular-column"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6952,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6950\/revisions\/6952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}