ACADIANA, La. (KLFY) — With the US Department of Agriculture cutting off federal programs including a program called the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement. It will drastically impact food banks and farmers who partner with them.

Brandy and her husband Jarvis Fontenette are local farmers on Zoie’s Farm, named after their daughter. They have been in partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank for three years, selling thousands of pounds of vegetables and helping people that can’t afford to purchase organic or fresh vegetables.

“With the hold and the freeze of these funds, we’re looking at, by July, they can’t guarantee that they’re going to be able to buy from us anymore because those funds are being held now,” said Brandy. “It’s not guaranteed that they’re going to get them back. So, we’re working with local farmers and other organizations. Showing them how important this is, not only just to the farmers but to the community.”

Jarvis worried without the funds the program would discontinue. This impacts not only farmers but also the schools and people who need assistance with healthy food.

“I think a lot of people just see the small picture and not the big picture, not the actual people that I’ve been affected. You can look at numbers and the bottom line, but when they ask you to see a person that’s being affected and a person that can’t feed their family because they don’t have any food, that’s the people that it’s affecting and I think that they need to realize what kind of program it is and how it would be affected,” he said.

Gabrielle Dubois, the agricultural and procurement specialist with Second Harvest Food Bank said the cut of the program was extremely disappointing. She said they have worked with over 40 farmers over the last couple of years and spent nearly six million dollars on local produce, protein, fish, shrimp and eggs.

“We’re set to honor purchasing with our local growers until the end of June. With the funding cuts, we’re not able to guarantee purchasing after July with these farmers. Had the program still been available, we would have been able to purchase for the next 30 months,” she said.

Dubois said connecting the consumers to the grower has been life-changing for all parties involved. They have reached 23 parishes supporting farmers and growers.

“We’re hoping that we either get this program back or we’re hoping that we can get it back maybe in the farm bill so that it’s not discretionary dollars and it can be just pulled any time,” she said.

Despite being disappointed by the cuts, Dubois and Second Harvest Food Bank plan to continue supporting the community to the best of their ability.

“Our long-term strategy is to continue to work with farmers and to continue this technical assistance support and just procuring this local food,” she said. “We will continue to use whatever discretionary dollars that we have to purchase this food. We need support from the community. So, your donations, they count. We can purchase local food from them. We have made these invaluable connections with farmers and ranchers across the state, and we can use that money to continue to purchase and support them in many ways.”

Planting with faith the Fontenettes said they will continue to prepare to grow vegetables for the spring, hoping to continue their partnership for generations to come.

If you want to support food banks and local farmers, call your congressman. Voice your opinions, to let them know that you want to support local growers. You can also send donations to Second Harvest Food Bank to help them continue moving forward.

Latest news