Trump Cuts Could Squeeze Small Farmers and Food Banks

At Happy Hollow Farm, a small, 16-acre operation in central Missouri, Liz Graznak grows a variety of vegetables, including organic carrots, Swiss chard, radishes and beets.Some of those vegetables go to local distributors where they are placed in boxes, alongside meat and dairy items also produced in the state, and delivered to low-income people.Other vegetables are sent to school districts that would normally not have the budget to serve students fresh, locally grown produce.For Ms.

Graznak, about $240,000, or roughly a quarter of her farm’s annual revenue, came from the two federal programs that supported these efforts.This week, she learned that the Agriculture Department had abruptly eliminated the programs.In a Fox News interview on Tuesday, Brooke L.

Rollins, the agriculture secretary, called the programs “nonessential” and “an effort by the left to continue spending taxpayer dollars that was not necessary.”Now, Ms.Graznak fears that her small farm is at risk.

Like many farmers, she relies on loans, and she worries about how to make payments on the $750,000 she owes.“My farm production has more than doubled in size in the last two and a half to three years because of these programs and this income,” Ms.Graznak said.

“That money was supporting the growth of my farm.I’m leveraged so high, it’s scary.

I’m struggling with that right now.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....