Clare Stoner Fehsenfeld opened her email this month to learn that a $500,000 federal grant awarded to FairShare CSA Coalition had been canceled.
“I was like, ‘Oh my god,’” said Stoner Fehsenfeld, who serves as executive director of the Madison nonprofit. “It was just devastating news.”
FairShare received funding last year to expand community supported agriculture, or CSA. In a model that’s been popular in Wisconsin for decades, people purchase a share of a farm’s produce in a lump sum in advance, in exchange for boxes of food throughout the summer growing season.
The grant was through the Farmers Market Promotional Program, run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Funds were expected to be distributed over three years, through 2027.
Stoner Fehsenfeld received a letter Feb. 14 from the USDA, which said it had terminated the award because it “no longer effectuates agency priorities regarding diversity, equity and inclusion program and activities.”
FairShare had included the word “equitable” in the funded project’s title: “CSA for All: Strategic Marketing for Equitable CSA Expansion.”
FairShare intended to help farmers connect with consumers more effectively — surveying CSA participants across demographics to see what models work best, making multilingual marketing materials, and forming a farmer advisory committee to emphasize input from growers themselves.
A lot of work had already gone into the project, Stoner Fehsenfeld said. FairShare promoted information about how CSAs work on social media this month and distributed marketing packets to farmers. After the funding was cut, FairShare hit pause, notifying farmers the organization could no longer compensate them.
Scott Laeser serves on FairShare’s board of directors and runs Plowshares & Prairie Farm with his wife in Argyle, a village southwest of Madison.
Laeser said he’s worried how broader cuts to federal funding and programs will affect farmers, who count on the money for infrastructure upgrades and other investments.
“Really, this is something that impacts everyone because we all depend on our farms for quality food,” Laeser said. “I think that we will continue to see the consequences of some of these actions trickle throughout our food system.”
An unstable future
The termination of FairShare’s grant came amid a series of directives made by President Donald Trump’s administration in recent weeks around federal spending, DEI initiatives and the size of the federal workforce.
The uncertainty swirling around federal funding has been particularly challenging for nonprofits like FairShare, Stoner Fehsenfeld said. Grants from federal, private and other sources make up about half of the Madison organization’s roughly $1 million budget, she said. Beyond the project itself, about $80,000 per year of the terminated grant was slated to support FairShare staff and activities.
Founded in 1992, FairShare aims to connect consumers directly with farmers to strengthen local food systems. The organization endorses more than 30 certified organic farms and provides a search tool on its website to help people find farms around the Midwest.
FairShare also provides workshops and resources for farmers and assists low-income households in purchasing CSA shares.
The cut leaves FairShare in an unstable position, Stoner Fehsenfeld said. Generally, the nonprofit applies for grants in the spring which are awarded in the fall for the following year. This setup makes it difficult to adjust funding for 2025, she said. While FairShare has some reserves to rely on, Stoner Fehsenfeld worries other grants may be affected and what that would mean for the future.
More federal funding cuts could also mean greater competition among nonprofits for other financial resources, she said.
Funding cuts around local agriculture may not only affect FairShare. Philip Kauth, executive director of REAP Food Group in Madison, said his organization hired a grant writer a few years ago to go after federal money. President Joe Biden’s administration dedicated funds to strengthen local food systems after the COVID-19 pandemic.
So far, REAP’s eight federally funded grants haven’t been cut, “but that doesn’t mean (they) won’t be,” Kauth said. He’s noticed payments for grants have taken longer lately than in previous months.
Whether people know farmers or organizations that have been affected by federal cuts, “it’s a really important time right now for folks to show up and speak up,” Laeser said.
People can support local food businesses at farmers markets or by signing up for a CSA (shares are available now from many local farms). Laeser also suggested contacting decision makers and elected officials.
“I hope that the community and individuals can really step up and help some of these organizations weather the storm,” Laeser said.
Work continues on smaller scale
The grant that was cut this month supported the national CSA Innovation Network, which FairShare helped establish. The network is made up of farmers and support organizations across the country working to unify and strengthen the CSA movement.
FairShare planned to use the federal money for research to better understand the effect of the CSA model in communities, expand more accessible CSA programs across the country, directly support small-scale farmers through marketing resources and assistance, and compensate farmers for work with the organization.
The letter notifying FairShare of the grant’s termination says the organization will be reimbursed for any work done up until Feb. 14.
FairShare is focused on helping more people access healthy, locally grown produce, including people of color and those with lower incomes, Stoner Fehsenfeld said. Without the federal money, the organization will have to continue efforts on a smaller scale than initially envisioned, she said.
“We have a real challenge in our food system right now, where farmers are not receiving enough (money) for the products they grow to survive (financially),” Laeser said. Locally grown food is “inaccessible because of its cost for so many folks. And FairShare has done a lot of important work to address and rectify that challenge.”
People talk about how nonprofits rely on the federal government for funding, said REAP’s Kauth. He emphasized how the federal government also relies on nonprofits to do essential work in communities that the government can’t do itself.
While FairShare was among the “unlucky first wave” of cuts, Stoner Fehsenfeld said she expects the continued federal cuts will affect a lot of people in many different ways.
“This is just the beginning,” she said.
