Call to action: Trump administration impacts on local farms

Local farmers, farmworkers, and our local food economy are under threat.

The Trump administration’s whirlwind of executive orders and administrative actions, and the flood of judicial rulings in response, have introduced uncertainty, chaos, and immediate harmful impacts.

Right now, local farmers who have completed costly on-farm improvement projects are hearing that the federal government may violate their signed contracts and withhold promised reimbursements, leaving them with considerable unplanned debt. In February, we learned that at least $7 million in committed funds for Massachusetts farms had been cut off. Some of that funding has since been released, but farmers and federal agency staff are still dealing with a lack of clarity, consistency, and communication about this.

Uncertainty is swirling in households that rely on SNAP to feed their families about whether this essential piece of our social safety net will be cut. Immigrant families are seeing the Trump administration expand detention and deportations, remove due process protections, and strip work authorization from many lawful immigrants, paired with false, villainizing narratives about immigrant criminality.

To read more about these impacts, read our recent opinion piece: Grave threats to local farmers, food.

What can you do?

This is a moment for the community (that’s you, and all of us) to step up and get involved in sustaining agriculture. For now, here’s what that can look like:

• Contact your legislators and tell them how important federal support for our local food system is to you. Here is a toolkit — including contact info and talking points — to get you started.
• Buy local. Local farms and other local businesses need your support more than ever. CISA can help you find a summer farm share, farmers’ market near you, or whatever else works for you. Check out our online guide to local food and farms.
• Support CISA. Your donations make it possible for us to continue our essential work in support of local farms, neighbors, and local food economy. Donate now.
• Talk to your friends and family about these losses and what they mean to you. We’re in a moment of extreme political division — but these policies and cuts will affect all of us and those impacts transcend political parties.