Federal funding cuts leave Petersburg’s free produce programs, local farmers in limbo
Allie Pitchon- Local farmers who relied on the LFPA for income are now facing uncertainty, while food distribution organizations are struggling to provide for those in need.
- Local farmers and non-profits say the impact of is particularly devastating for Petersburg, a community designated as a food desert.
- Local non-profits like Petersburg is Growing and the Justin J. Davis Heart Foundation, which relied on LFPA funds, are seeking alternative ways to meet the community's need for fresh produce.
The pause of a federal COVID-era food assistance program that helps communities buy fresh food from local farmers has left the growers and free food distribution organizations reeling.
The Local Food Purchase Assistance Program supports local growers and strengthens the U.S. agricultural supply chain while increasing access to fresh, locally grown produce in communities, especially in food deserts like Petersburg.
Local non-profit River Street Education — which runs the River Street Market in Old Towne Petersburg and the Market at PPL at the Petersburg Public Library — has been using LFPA funds for two years to buy fruits and vegetables from local farmers and give them to free food distribution organizations in the city. These include local food pantries, community fridges and other non-profits that provide free fresh produce to the community.
That is, until now.
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On Tuesday, River Street Education received word that — after the program was first frozen indefinitely in January — the last round of LFPA funding will be distributed in June. After July, the LFPA program will be terminated, leaving some local growers and free food distribution organizations in limbo.
According to Politico, the program was among the $1 billion in recent Agriculture Department cuts by the Trump administration. The USDA notified states that it was unfreezing funds for existing LFPA agreements, according to the report, but it would not support a second round of funding starting in July.
"These programs, created under the former Administration via Executive authority, no longer effectuate the goals of the agency," said part of a statement issued by the USDA, which confirmed the cancellation of the program.
Since River Street Market started using LFPA funds, the non-profit has received $206,676 to purchase food for community food distribution organizations from local growers.
Without the program, local farmers will lose thousands of dollars and the food distribution organizations will miss out on fresh produce for those in need, Lisa Homa, a grant writer with River Street Education, told The Progress-Index.
A setback for local farms and food access
“The LFPA was a win-win for all stakeholders,” said Pierson Geyer, who runs the family-owned Agriberry Fruit Farm in Hanover County alongside his parents Anne and Chuck Geyer.
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The Agriberry Fruit Farm is one of River Street Education’s local farm partners, but it also receives LFPA dollars from other organizations to provide programming and produce for schools across the greater Richmond region.
“It [the LFPA] was helping fund purchases from local farms that were directly benefiting economically from those purchases,” Geyer said. “But it was also benefitting the recipients of that free produce, whether in dense urban areas where it’s hard to access fresh food or in more widespread rural areas where access may also be an issue.”
“It was also acting as a facilitator connecting the community to farmers and connecting farmers to a broader retail sales base," he added. "That infrastructure development on a local level shouldn’t be ignored either."
A heavy blow to Petersburg food desert
Petersburg’s status as a food desert has made the loss of this program all the more devastating for the community.
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Food deserts are communities where residents have limited or no access to nearby grocery stores with affordable, nutritious food, including fresh fruits and vegetables. They tend to be in historically underserved and underfunded communities, especially in non-white neighborhoods.
Petersburg’s chronically low life expectancy has often been attributed, at least in part, to the city’s food desert status.
A little over a decade ago, former Petersburg teacher Tyrone Cherry set out to help combat this local food insecurity by creating communal gardens and green spaces throughout the city with a group of teen boys and young men he was mentoring, many of them his former students.
What started as a small garden in Cherry’s front yard expanded into a five-acre community farm that now houses the Petersburg Oasis Youth Farm, a non-profit youth farm committed to educating and empowering local youth through sustainable agriculture. To help support the farm and other local initiatives, Cherry also created the grassroots non-profit organization Petersburg is Growing in November 2023.
One of the non-profit’s most popular programs was its Greater is the Goal campaign, which relied on LFPA funds to give out free locally-grown produce to the community through weekly pop-up farm stands.
The campaign ground to a halt alongside the LFPA funding in January.
Now, the non-profit is pivoting to keep the program going, asking for more produce donations from local farmers and seeking new spaces to grow more produce.
“It was a rude awakening. It definitely caught us off guard,” Cherry told The Progress-Index over the phone on Tuesday. “We’re really having to pivot to meet that community need.”
“We’re literally using every space we have to grow,” Cherry added. “I literally have my babies in the front yard as we’re speaking planting potatoes just so we can try to fill that gap for the community.”
Local free produce distribution events grind to a halt
Petersburg is Growing is not the only local non-profit impacted by the LFPA freeze.
River Street Education was using LFPA funds to provide locally-grown produce to six free food distribution organizations in the community before the program’s termination was announced.
“It’s affecting us greatly,” said Karen Brown-Davis, who runs the Justin J. Davis Heart Foundation. “We are a very small local non-profit so we don’t get a lot of government funding.”
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Brown-Davis co-founded the foundation — which regularly hosts pop-up events where they distribute free fresh produce across the Tri-Cities and Crater District — alongside her son Justin after he was diagnosed with a congenital heart disease at 27.
“We focus on food deserts and underserved communities,” Brown-Davis said. “You can’t get any healthier than a fruit or a vegetable, but food insecure communities don't always have access to these."
Last year, the foundation distributed over 17,000 pounds of free produce purchased from local farmers with LFPA funding to more than 8,900 people at over 30 pop-up events, everywhere from health fairs to schools to senior homes.
Hundreds of people — usually a mix of regulars and new faces — showed up to each event, Brown-Davis said.
“People follow us on social media and they come wherever we go,” she said. “Now they’re asking when we’re going to have another event. We haven’t scheduled one because our budget just can’t sustain them anymore.”
The foundation also manages two community fridges that they keep stocked with free produce in North Dinwiddie and South Chesterfield, Brown-Davis added.
Due to the cuts, they will have to drastically limit their events and rely on community partners and donations to keep their community fridges stocked.
“We definitely can’t meet the same needs that we were meeting,” Brown-Davis said.
“Last January, we distributed $4,300 worth. February, $6,500. March, over $5,000. Last April, $7,800. May, $3,800. June, $5,000 and in July, we distributed over $14,000,” she added. “This year, since the freeze, we’ve only ordered $800 worth, and we’re using that for our community fridges.”
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How you can help
Petersburg is Growing and the Justin J. Davis Heart Foundation are always looking for more donations and volunteers.
You can donate to Petersburg is Growing through their website, petersburgisgrowing.org.
You can also make an impact by volunteering your time with Petersburg is Growing. Every Monday year-round — rain or shine — the non-profit hosts a volunteer opportunity at the farm, located at 535 Beech St., for community members. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., volunteers can help by tending to crops, revitalizing public spaces in the community or doing other important work.
Contact the farm with any questions at PetersburgOasisYouthFarm@gmail.com.
The donation and volunteer information for the Justin J. Davis Heart Foundation can be found below:
