Millions in promised federal support for Missouri farmers vanished when the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut funding in July for the Heartland Regional Food Business Center, a program helping small and specialty-crop producers reach new markets, upgrade equipment, and build essential buyer relationships.
The agency pulled back $14 million from Heartland’s original $25 million award, a loss growers said is being felt across Missouri’s local food economy.
Katie Nixon, farmer with New Growth, a nonprofit supporting rural businesses and local food systems, said the cuts are hitting small producers especially hard.
"A lot of people don't understand that," Nixon observed. "A lot of these small farmers, they're not loan-ready. They can't just walk into a bank and get a cash flow loan from a bank."
Missouri’s nearly 88,000 mostly small farms now risk falling behind without Heartland’s support. Nixon noted the program is trying to continue under a new coalition but still needs federal funding to help farmers grow.
Before the cuts, Heartland had helped formalize hundreds of partnerships between Missouri farmers and buyers, and the next grant cycle was expected to be its largest yet. Nixon stressed that without the program’s technical assistance and market access support, small farms face new barriers.
"Twenty-five hundred businesses got helped from the Heartland Regional Business Center," Nixon explained. "Those are just technical assistance opportunities for us to help people understand what resources are available to them."
Nixon added that losing federal support ripples far beyond agriculture. She warned that when small farms cannot compete, entire communities lose access to diverse, high-quality foods, and big companies tighten their grip on the market.
"What's happening in our food system, and all across, I think every sector, is that there's a mass consolidation of all these businesses," Nixon pointed out.
Missouri Public News Service, a partner with KRCU Public Radio, originally published this article.
