SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced it was cutting funds for a program that almost 8,000 food banks and communities have relied on for fresh, local food. For the Hoopa Valley Tribe in California, the funding had helped them provide meat, fruits and vegetables, and it created reliable income for their farmers. KQED's Izzy Bloom reports from Humboldt County.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Hi.
IZZY BLOOM, BYLINE: Every week, 74-year-old Norma McAdams comes to the senior center on the Hoopa Valley reservation to pick up fresh produce grown by local farmers.
NORMA MCADAMS: Yellow squash and zucchini with a little onion.
BLOOM: The Hoopa Valley tribal member used to grow her own fruit and vegetables. But after an osteoporosis diagnosis and recent back injury, that's become harder. So these weekly produce boxes are as important as ever.
MCADAMS: Especially when you get older 'cause you're more susceptible - your immune system is susceptible, too. Whatever you're eating is what you're becoming.
BLOOM: McAdams is one of 180 Hoopa Valley seniors getting local produce, eggs and beef through the USDA's Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, or LFPA. There are other federal food assistance programs, like SNAP, that try to reach low-income households. But this program was launched by the Biden administration in 2021 specifically to build more resilient local food systems during the pandemic. It reimburses food banks, tribes and other community organizations who buy fresh, culturally relevant food from local producers, prioritizing historically underserved farmers and ranchers. Tribal member Allie Hostler, who runs the local program, says it benefits both seniors and farmers.
ALLIE HOSTLER: For our local farmers, it meant market stability. It meant reliable markets. It meant being able to sell every tomato that you grow.
BLOOM: In March, the USDA announced it would eliminate the program. USDA said in an email to NPR, they support farmers and consumers with 16 other nutrition programs, including one that provides food banks with agricultural products from around the country. Many food banks and tribes will stop getting money from the local food program by the end of the year. By next summer, all payments will end. The impact will be felt especially hard in rural areas like the remote Hoopa Valley.
HOSTLER: In Hoopa, we're geographically isolated from larger highway systems where food comes and goes.
BLOOM: The tribe runs the single market on the reservation. Much of the food is trucked in from Central Valley farms over 300 miles away. Hostler hoped that support from this program could help local farmers scale up enough to eventually supply the grocery store themselves.
HOSTLER: Hi. Great to meet you.
STEPHANIE MCKINDLEY: Yeah.
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BLOOM: One of the local farmers who produces through the LFPA program is Stephanie McKindley, whose 4-acre farm is a short drive from the senior center.
MCKINDLEY: One of our big produce here in Hoopa is our peaches.
BLOOM: What do they taste like?
MCKINDLEY: They're sweet, and then they're kind of sour.
BLOOM: McKindley says she used to sell peaches with her father and daughter at a stand in front of the town's burger joint.
MCKINDLEY: People don't have a lot of money here, so we just kind of work with what people have, and we basically just give them away.
BLOOM: But thanks to the LFPA grant...
MCKINDLEY: This was the first year that we actually got market value.
BLOOM: That allowed McKindley and her sister to expand their farm this year - growing corn, squash, herbs, cherries and more. Farmers like McKindley are hoping to secure alternative customers, like the local school district. But Allie Hostler says the seniors who are benefiting from the program will lose subsidized fresh food.
HOSTLER: Having access to food through this program sort of guarantees they'll have locally produced, healthy foods in their refrigerators and on their kitchen tables. Without that, I'm not sure how many will continue to buy healthy.
BLOOM: For the tribe, the program will end in November. For NPR, I'm Izzy Bloom in the Hoopa Valley. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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