In rural West Virginia, small-scale producers like Tim and Rebecca Cooper are facing severe financial strain after federal agricultural grants were canceled, disrupting regional food networks and leaving growers with unsold harvests. The cuts have hit local farms that previously relied on federal funds to supply fresh produce and meat to state food pantries, threatening their livelihoods as they prepare for the upcoming midterm elections.
The financial disruption stems from the termination of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, which was initially funded in 2022 under former President Joe Biden. Through the program, West Virginia’s Mountaineer Food Bank received federal dollars to purchase locally grown vegetables and pork, allowing food pantries across the state to stock fresh, regional food.
Canceled Contracts and Scaled-Up Production
For Cooper Farms, launched in 2019 by Tim and Rebecca in Points, West Virginia, the federal initiative presented a major expansion opportunity. Encouraged by commitments from Mountaineer Food Bank employees to purchase nearly all of their vegetable and pork output, the family invested heavily in their infrastructure.
Tim Cooper recalled that they were asked to scale up operations and responded by building new high tunnels to cultivate cabbage, arugula, and lettuces year-round. We were asked to scale up, and we did,
Tim said. By March 2025, those tunnels and surrounding fields were fully planted.
However, the outlook shifted abruptly when Mountaineer representatives informed the family that the food bank could no longer buy the contracted crops due to the Trump administration’s cancellation of LFPA funding. Tim noted the logistical impossibility of offloading a half-a-million-dollar harvest through regular retail channels, adding, All that money is spent. Everything’s ordered. Now, where do you go with it? We can’t just go to the local store and try to sell a half-a-million-dollar crop.
He also stated, These kids cannot see me fail.
Rebecca similarly voiced her distress, noting, Having five kids, it really brings panic. Two of our kids were born in this house here on this farm. You’re thinking that you’d hate to have to leave here and go do something else.
Nathan Bergdoll, a planning coordinator for the state Department of Agriculture, reported encountering similar distress calls from farmers and low-income families over the past two years. According to Bergdoll, producers warn of impending bankruptcy, business closures, and the potential loss of their homes and properties as local food systems unravel.
Political Alignment and State-Level Response
Tim expressed surprise at the federal cuts given the Trump administration’s stated alignment with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement. Because the initiative emphasizes access to nutritious food, the Coopers initially assumed federal support for local growers would remain protected.
Attention subsequently turned to West Virginia’s Republican governor, Patrick Morrissey, who was among the first state executives to embrace MAHA healthy food objectives.
Tim Cooper stated that state leadership has been unreceptive to appeals for replacement funding, leaving small producers to deal with mounting debts and an uncertain market on their own.
