The Trump administration is putting an end to a COVID-era USDA program.
The department launched Regional Food Business Centers in 2023 to help small and mid-sized farmers.
Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins says that they were created with one-time funding from Congress.
However, the previous administration says that they were meant to build lasting resilience in our food system.
Jenny Lester Moffitt, senior fellow at the American Farmland Trust and a former USDA Undersecretary, played a key role in launching those centers.
She spoke with RFD-TV’s own Suzanne Alexander about her understanding of the program, what the end of the centers means, and how their goals changed post-COVID.
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In a final rule published in the Federal Register, the Department states that it will no longer base wage rates on the Farm Labor Survey.
“In the first six months of 2025, 181 Chapter 12 bankruptcies were filed nationwide.”
Farmers are in the midst of harvest as the government descends into a shutdown and the Farm Bill expires. Key federal departments, crop reporting, and aid programs important to the agricultural sector are now on hold.
Jeramy Stephens, with National Land Realty, says that despite today’s economic headwinds, farmland remains a resilient asset — and understanding local conditions is key to making sound decisions.