Speaking before a crowd outside the State House Monday evening, Julie Davenson listed the challenges facing local farmers these days: the elimination of farming grants; cuts to food banks, which are big buyers of locally-grown food; cuts to technical support programs, and more.
“Food insecurity has been rising. Farm businesses are struggling. Rural communities are being hollowed out, and climate resilience is being undermined,” Davenson said.
Davenson, a member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, was one of the organizers of Monday’s State House rally meant to call attention to the struggles of small farmers in the face of funding cuts and what they call shrinking federal support.
Federal policies, Davenson said, increasingly support large industrial farms instead of local growers. That, in turn, hurts food systems, she said, and could make organic and local produce less available.
Liz Willey, from Hampstead, was one of the farmers at the rally to describe their experience with recent federal actions. Late last year, she said, she was told her farm was set to get a grant to help pay for a more reliable water source for irrigation, as well as other climate resilience projects.
“But then in March of this year, I was told that the funding for these programs has been reallocated and that my projects would no longer be funded,” she said.
In light of recent cuts, farmers at the rally demanded that the state government step up and provide more support.
They asked that state regulators and lawmakers implement policies proposed in the New Hampshire Food and Agriculture Strategic Plan released by the New Hampshire Food Alliance earlier this year.
Specifically, they want to see more regulations requiring public institutions — including schools, hospitals and jails — to source from local, sustainable producers.
“It's just a small percentage, but even that small percentage would be millions of dollars for us farmers in this community,” said farmer Jeremiah Vernon.
