A Syracuse nonprofit farm whose mission is to improve access to locally grown food is now trying to figure out new funding sources after the U.S. Department of Agriculture ended programs that provided millions of dollars in grants.
The Brady Farm, a six-acre farm on Syracuse’s south side, is in their 10th growing season. For the last two years, they received funding through the New York Foods for New York Families program. The program, funded through the USDA’s Local Foods Purchase assistance program, was cut, along with the federal Local Food for Schools program.
The USDA says both programs started during the COVID-19 pandemic and ending the programs marks “a return to long-term fiscally responsible initiatives.”
The USDA said the department released over $500 million last week to fulfill existing contracts for local food purchases.
“The COVID era is over – USDA's approach to nutrition programs will reflect that reality moving forward,” said Sarah Black, a USDA spokesperson
Funding from those programs helped the Brady Farm distribute food at no cost to about 340 families in Syracuse between 2023 and 2024, said Jessi Lyons, the nonprofit’s farm coordinator.
Onondaga County has approximately 58,000 people who are food insecure, a number that increased about 10% since 2021, according to the most recent data from Feeding America, a national network of food banks. Data from the U.S. Census says the city of Syracuse has a poverty rate of 31.6%, and nearly half of those people are under the age of 18.
“One of the statistics of our neighborhood is that a third of the residents don’t have access to transportation and we see a lot of our neighbors going by our farm on wheelchairs on their way to [the grocery store], and that is almost three miles away,” Lyons said. “It’s a long way for people to be getting access to food. We’re not the ultimate solution but we are some level of access for people who don’t get it otherwise and it’s affordable, if not free.”
The New York state Department of Agriculture and Markets distributed nearly $50 million to 114 organizations through the local food program funding in 2023 and 2024, said Jola Szubielski, a spokesperson for the department.
“One of our priorities at the department is increasing food security in our communities and developing a strong, local food supply chair right here at home,” Szubielski said in a statement. “New York state will continue to administer the first two rounds of LFPA grants, which remain unimpacted and complement a number of our other state programs that expand food access for New Yorkers and support purchasing from local farmers.”
In 2024, the department was awarded $24 million to continue the program but the USDA has canceled this funding. The state had not yet awarded that funding.
“We have to really consider how we’re going to find other sources of funding to support our neighbors and to keep the cost affordable of the food that we’re selling, and find other ways to bring the community to the farm so they can take advantage of it,” Lyons said.
Producers have expressed concerns about uncertainty at the USDA under the new presidential administration, and Lyons said they have experienced that as well with other funding related to climate-smart practices.
“Some of that funding has been cut that directly helps to cover the cost of those management practices for farms, and some of that was under the Climate Resiliency Act that was passed with Joe Biden’s support so that specifically was helping farms like ours and that is now gone,” she said.
Other grants the farm relied on under federal Urban Agriculture programs are now frozen.
“Those things that are specifically for our scale of farming and food access in communities that are high need and underserved, have been frozen and aren’t available,” Lyons said.
New York is not a state with a climate friendly to growing year-round, so the farm built high tunnels, enclosed spaces that allow them to grow in the colder months. Lyons said most of the interactions she has with the USDA are through the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), which provides grants and loans for projects like high tunnels.
“We’re in a moment where they are not able to compensate us for a contract. It has been implemented. It’s been executed. We have already paid. We’re waiting for reimbursement, and they’re not able to reimburse us because the money has been frozen, so they’ve extended our contract,” Lyons said.
The statewide NRCS office, based in Syracuse, experienced cuts in the last two months, leaving Lyons waiting for answers.
“Our direct connection to our federal government and what it means for farming has started to disappear,” Lyons said.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and 31 other senators sent a letter to the USDA demanding the USDA reverse the cancellation of these programs.
“I have grave concerns about the impact that this cancellation will have on New York’s farmers and the families that rely on food banks, school lunch programs, and childcare centers for their daily needs,” Gillibrand said in a press release. “At a time of uncertainty in farm country, farmers need every opportunity to be able to expand market access for their products, and this move jeopardizes that access. Furthermore, this will decrease the availability of local foods for the programs that rely on them to feed New Yorkers in need.”
Nationally, the program cuts $1 billion and in New York, the LFPA and LFS funding cuts $63 million for the fiscal year 2025, the press release said.
While the cuts are demoralizing, Lyons said she doesn’t have time to feel demoralized and must keep moving forward.
“We can’t slow down, we can’t stop. We just have to find another way and that’s where I got to put my energy at the moment, is continuing to partner with our community organizations to find something to keep moving,” she said.
)
