The New Republic - Trump’s Sticker Shocks Are About to Hit the Produce Aisle

Food systems program manager Claire Kelloway emphasizes the need for regional supply chains, sustainable farming, and fair labor to achieve greater self-sufficiency in food production.

“There’s absolutely a conversation to be had about, What would it look like to be more self-sufficient in our food supply and be more self-sufficient in producing more produce domestically?”

For Janet Nakamura Knight, a fifth-generation farmer in Redlands, California, a federal program that facilitates food distribution between small and midsize farms and local food banks and assistance organizations has been an important source of funding and community connection. Each week, her farm—which grows citrus, blackberries, and mixed vegetables—packages around one thousand food boxes with a dozen types of fruits and vegetables sourced from 25 different farming families for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, or LFPA.

But what had become routine abruptly changed at the beginning of March. It was at that time that Knight got some unexpected news: The program was frozen, and March 7 would be the last day of delivery. As her farm’s contract was written to last for 12 more weeks, through the end of June, this freeze represents a $60,000 loss, on top of the decision to abandon the produce that has already been planted. The kale and collard greens that her farm had planted, as well as dates and oranges and pepper seedlings planted by neighboring farms, can no longer be used for this contracted purpose—a loss of $300,000, according to Knight.

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