Small farmers are more in a hurry than ever. A subsidy program in California offers a rescue buoy.

When Javier Zamora started his farm in organic bays over ten years ago, he worked with just an acre and a half of land in the county of Monterey, near the central coast of California. Today, he and his crew cultivate strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, as well as vegetables and flowers, on more than 100 acres. Recently, Zamora participated in a producer market organized by a San Jose school which serves a largely Hispanic community.

During the event, Zamora discovered that he did not only bring fresh products to the students, but presented them with food that they had never tried before.

“They can never see a germination of Brussels or a purple potato and they certainly never have to taste a French strawberry, like Mara des Bois, or a golden raspberry,” said Zamora. “So, it makes me feel really, really nice to connect with these people.”

It is important to make breakthroughs with other communities outside his farm for Zamora, who comes from an agricultural family in Mexico. This has become much easier after buying a refrigerated van, with the help of a subsidy of $ 150,000 to California Department of Food and Agriculture, or CDFA. Now he can deliver to customers to Sacramento, bringing his bays to school districts at around three hours.

“We have had it for two years now, and it’s incredible. It’s a beautiful thing, and drives well,” he said about the Van de Sprinter de Mercedes-Benz. “And we can deliver up to 400 strawberries, which is really good.”

A recent report shows that the school’s subsidy program, which started in 2021, was effective in supporting small farmers of size, medium size and socially or economically. The program is open to the applications of farmers, schools, childcare services and other organizations focused on schools for local food purchase or other food education initiatives. It is designed to support local producers and provide cooler and durably cultivated products to California students.

It is also a sign of the way some states continue efforts to support farmers in the face of federal cuts.

In 2022, an independent team of researchers from the Berkeley, agriculture and natural resources of the UC, the American department of agriculture and other groups, decided to assess the way the subsidy program joined the state roadmap to build a more equitable and more sustainable regional food system. The roadmap initially established an allowance target of 25% of funds in 2022, followed by 40% of funds in 2024, to these young and the average size, historically, the opportunities in the food system.

According to the report, the program exceeded that: last year, 100% of the funding for subsidies went to these priority farmers, compared to 84% in 2022.

One of the other objectives of the subsidy program is to support and encourage farmers to adopt intelligent climatic practices such as coverage, which stabilize and improve soil chemistry and improve soil capacity to store carbon. On this note, the program has somewhat mixed results: the evaluation team found that most of the funds awarded by CDFAs did not go to farmers experimenting for the first time AGi intelligent. Instead, the subsidies go to producers who already implement these practices, said Beth Katz, one of the contributors to the report.

Katz is curious to know how the subsidy program could better help farmers who are new in the AG-SMART, but believes that support for farmers who already use these practices is always beneficial for the environment. In California and at the national level, small farms find it difficult to reach both ends at a time of cuts to federal programs. If state dollars help these farmers stay in business, this means that they can continue to implement greener practices, has argued Katz, who also directs Food Insight Group, a food systems research firm.

For Zamora, buying his refrigerated van, which came to around $ 100,000, would not have been possible without support from the CDFA. “Many farmers, we just don’t have this kind of dough to buy something like that, so these subsidies are just an incredible tool for us,” he said. He hopes to request additional funding during the next grant cycle-perhaps for more vans, a cooler without an appointment or other types of infrastructure.

California’s progress shows how states can help farmers depending on federal programs that have favored local food purchase, which have been closed or underflowed by the Trump administration. With the closure of the federal government, which started on Wednesday, American farmers feel more in a hurry than ever. The history of the Trump administration with the agricultural country were mixed this year because the president’s trade war with China and most of the other parts of the world have made farmers find new markets for their crops.

Losing access to vital public services due to congress intestine struggles is likely to worsen this financial pressure. For example, the FARM Service Agency, a sub-agency of the American Department of Agriculture which offers agricultural loans and aid for disasters and manages conservation programs, offices closed across the country while the AG department has conceded half its workforce. While the Republicans and Democrats blame themselves for the deadlock of funding, which should last at least until next week, Trump and his allies threaten the use of dismissals or permanent cuts if an agreement is not concluded soon.

State programs like California can help compensate for part of the economic uncertainty that farmers are faced while the fight against financing plans stops. “I think it’s all the more important,” said Katz. “And I think that all the investments that California as a state continues to do in school meal programs and food systems infrastructure is a bit of a stamp” for producers and consumers.

The school’s subsidy program has also managed to help schools in remote regions access local products by working with organizations like Food Hubs.

In the school district of Julian Union in the county of San Diego, the construction of a program where students could engage with local farmers would have involved discs of one and a half hours, said Mati Moon, coordinator of the garden education at Julian Pathways, a non -profit organization that provides enveloping services for Julian Union. Many years ago, the district received a subsidy from the USDA school – but the rural location of the schools made it difficult to connect with farmers, said Moon.

Working with the CDFA has been more fruitful. Moon asked for a farm subsidy at the school in the name of Julian Pathways, who makes food supply for the school district nutrition program. After receiving funding, Moon’s contact at the CDFA encouraged him to contact a local food center which distributes fresh products throughout the County of San Diego. Moon was able to convince the hub to deliver to its community by starting agriculture supported by the community, or CSA, program and sign around 75 families to receive HUB products. Thanks to this, “we were able to obtain regular deliveries in the Julian region to support our nutrition program” using Grant Dollars, said Moon.

The establishment of a relationship with a food center which would have previously considered Julian too far to work was a boon for the community. “The exction of this network, which allows schools and businesses to access products from all over the county in an easier and more profitable way, has changed the situation,” said Moon.

Zamora dreams of opening his own food center one day and supporting more farmers in the hope of selling their food locally. He notes that his farm has lost several customers, such as the financing of the USDA on which they used to rely. He remains hope, however, about his business – and also hopes that more of his peers will be able to enjoy subsidy programs such as those that the CDFA offers because they design new ways of staying afloat. “In at least my case, what I applied and what I obtained was only a blessing,” said Zamora.

Correction: An earlier version of this article has poorly spelled the name of the organization led by Beth Katz.