May 6, 2025
The Honorable John Hoeven, Chairman
U.S. Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee
The Honorable Jeanne Shaheen, Ranking Member
U.S. Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee
The Honorable Andy Harris, Chairman
House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee
The Honorable Sanford Bishop Jr., Ranking Member
House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee
Dear Chairman Hoeven, Chairman Harris, Ranking Member Shaheen, and Ranking Member Bishop,
Thank you for all of the work you do to support our nation’s agriculture industry and rural communities. As you prepare the FY 2026 agriculture appropriations bill, the undersigned organizations request that you increase funding for USDA’s Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) and Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP). These programs provide critical support for business one-to-one business technical assistance for small and midsized farm and food businesses and are essential to achieving the administration’s goal of expanding domestic markets for producers. Increasing investments in these programs will grow rural economies, create jobs, and build a more secure food supply chain
Recent years have provided stark illustrations of the need to better equip farmers and food entrepreneurs with the skills needed to build resilient and viable businesses. These challenges have included
the dramatic upheavals of local and regional markets caused by the coronavirus pandemic, increased inflation and input costs, and record farmland prices which has hindered access to land and expansion of operations. The 2022 Census of Agriculture found that 36% of U.S. farms operated at a net loss.
Business technical assistance (BTA) is critical to meeting such challenges. BTA covers a wide range of one-to-one services offered to farm and food businesses by nonprofit organizations, state agencies, private consultants, and extension services. Customized to meet the unique needs of individual businesses, these services include coaching, skill development, and planning related to financial and labor management, marketing and business strategies, farm transfer and succession, and access to land and capital. BTA is effective at creating jobs and supporting local economies, with one state program finding that just two years of business planning support helped farm businesses increase their net income by 62% and add jobs at triple the rate of the sector.
Many BTA providers rely on funding from LAMP and BFRDP to offer their services to farm and food businesses. BTA providers use LAMP funding to help farmers expand direct-to-consumer marketing, grow local and regional food markets, and build local food enterprises. They utilize BFRDP to provide education, mentoring, and technical assistance to beginning farmers and ranchers to ensure that they have the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to make informed decisions for their operations. Support for the next generation of producers is especially important considering that the average age of the current generation of farmers and ranchers is over 58.
Together these programs help support thousands of farmers and food entrepreneurs annually. Between 2019 and 2022, LAMP helped establish over 4,000 new businesses and created or retained over 5,000 jobs in the local and regional food sectors. Between 2016 and 2021, BFRDP helped over 4,000 program participants begin farming or ranching, and helped nearly 20,000 participants improve the success of their businesses. Additional funding would allow both of these programs to have a greater impact on farm viability and rural economies. The undersigned organizations urge you to appropriate the full amount authorized for each program with $20 million for LAMP and $5 million for BFRDP.
Finally, the undersigned organizations wish to underscore the invaluable role that USDA’s workforce plays in effectively and efficiently administering these, and many other, programs. Any significant reduction in staffing at the Department will translate into longer delays and worse service for producers, food entrepreneurs, and rural communities.
Thank you for your consideration of our request and for all your work supporting rural America. We look forward to working with you and your committees to further support farms, ranches, and food businesses.
Sincerely,
Agricultural Institute of Marin
Agricultural Stewardship Association
Agricultural Viability Alliance
Alaska Food Policy Council
Alder Street Consulting
American Farmland Trust
Berkshire Agricultural Ventures
Berkshire Grown
Black Family Land Trust, Inc.
Black Gold Resourcing, LLC
Business Opportunities Management Consulting
California FarmLink
Carolina Farm Stewardship Association
The Carrot Project
Catskills Agrarian Alliance
Center for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship (CADE)
Center for an Agricultural Economy
Chicago Food Policy Action Council
Cian Dalzell Food Consulting
Coastal Enterprises, Inc.
Columbia Land Conservancy
Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF)
Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA)
Cornell Cooperative Extension Capital Area Agriculture and Horticulture Program
Cultivate Kansas City
Cultivate Oregon
DSuput Consulting, LLC
Eat Drink Rhode Island
Echo Farm, LLC
FairShare CSA Coalition
Farm and Food Growth Fund
Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
Farm Fresh Rhode Island
Farm Girl Farm
Farm to Institution New England (FINE)
The Farmer’s Office
The Farmer’s Table
Food & Farm Business Law Clinic at Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
Food Solutions New England
Foodshed Capital
The Foodshed Network
Franklin County Community Development Corporation
Fresh Approach
Friends of Family Farmers
Genesee Land Trust
Glynwood Center
The Good Acre
Good Roots
Groundswell Center
Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities
GROW North Texas
Harris-Pero Law Firm, PLLC
Hawaii Good Food Alliance
High Desert Food and Farm Alliance
Holistic Management International
Hudson Valley AgriBusiness Development Corp
Illinois Environmental Council
Illinois Stewardship Alliance
Indiana Division Izaak Walton League of America
Intervale Center
Iowa Valley RC&D
Kansas Rural Center
Khuba International
Kitchen Sync Strategies
Kitchen Table Advisors
The Land Connection
Land For Good
Land Loss Prevention Project
LifeSource Systems, Inc.
Louisiana Association of Cooperatives
Lyon County Food and Farm Council
Maine Farmland Trust
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
Market Umbrella
Massachusetts Food System Collaborative
McIntosh SEED
Michigan Health Improvement Alliance
Napa Farmers Market
National Family Farm Coalition
National Farm Viability Conference
NEMI Healthy Food Initiative
New Connecticut Farmer Alliance
New Entry Sustainable Farming Project
Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust
Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Hampshire (NOFA-NH)
Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT)
Nourish Colorado
NW Indiana Food Council
NWCT Food Hub
NY State Climate Smart Communities
Oʻahu RC&D
Orange County Land Trust
Oregon Farm to School Network
Organic Farming Research Foundation
Organic Growers School
Otsego Land Trust
OurSpace World, Inc.
Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association
The Piedmont Environmental Council
Project New Village
Providence Farm Collective
Regenerative Agriculture Alliance
Renewing the Countryside
Rhode Island Food Policy Council
Rogue Farm Corps
Rural Coalition
Saratoga PLAN
Sherlene Rodriguez Business Consulting
Southeast Iowa Food Hub
Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance
Sprout
SupplyChange, LLC
Sustainable Farming Association
Taproot Farm
Tend Financial, LLC
Texas Center for Local Food
Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
Texas Small Farmers and Ranchers CBO
Toxic Free North Carolina
Urban Harvest, Inc.
Vermont Housing & Conservation Board
Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund
Viva Farms
Izaak Walton League of America Wisconsin Division
World Farmers
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