March 26, 2026
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 the work you do to support our nation’s agriculture industry and rural communities. As you prepare the FY 2027 agriculture appropriations bill, the undersigned organizations request that you increase funding for USDA’s Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP), Farming Opportunities Training and Outreach (FOTO), and the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. These programs provide critical support for one-to-one business technical assistance (BTA) 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 necessary to build resilient and viable businesses. These challenges have included increasing input costs, labor and weather disruptions, declining farm profits, and record farmland prices which have 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, FOTO, and SARE to offer their services to farms. BTA providers use LAMP funding to help farmers build new enterprises, expand direct-to-consumer marketing, and grow local and regional food supply chains. Within LAMP, the Regional Food System Partnership (RFSP) is especially critical to developing local and regional food economies that increase jobs and offer farmers quality prices. BTA providers utilize FOTO’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) and 2501 Program to provide one-to one business advising to beginning, veteran, and underserved farmers and ranchers to ensure that they have the knowledge and analysis needed to make informed decisions for their operations. Support for the next generation of producers is especially important considering that the average age of farmers and ranchers increased to 58 in 2022 according to the most recent Census of Agriculture. Finally, SARE is used to spur innovation and solve challenges, improving the quality of technical assistance services to farmers through professional and workforce development.
Together these programs help support thousands of farmers and food entrepreneurs annually. For instance, 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 enable all of the aforementioned programs to have a greater impact on farm viability and rural economies at a time when many farms and farm communities are struggling. The undersigned organizations urge you to appropriate the full amount authorized for LAMP at $20 million and SARE at $60 million, as well as to
provide $10 million in appropriations for FOTO for FY 2027.
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 of 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 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,
1 of 52 Hunger Network
Agricultural Institute of Marin
Agricultural Stewardship Association
Agricultural Viability Alliance
Agriculture Stewardship Hawai’i
Alchemist CDC
Alder Street Consulting
American Farmland Trust
Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture
Around the Bend Farms
Berkshire Agricultural Ventures
Berkshire Grown, Inc.
Black Family Land Trust
Business Opportunities Management Consulting
California Center for Cooperative Development
Carolina Farm Stewardship Association
The Carrot Project
Center for an Agricultural Economy
CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture)
Climate Smart Millerton
Conlin Columbia Partnership for Cities
Connecticut Farmland Trust
Cultivate Kansas City
Dry Farming Institute
Dsuput Consulting LLC
Eat Drink Rhode Island
Farm & Food Growth Fund
Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
Farm Fresh Rhode Island
Farm Girl Farm
Farm to Institution New England
The Farmer’s Table
Feast Down East
Food Well Alliance
FoodRecovery.org
Franklin County Community Development Corporation
Fresh Approach
Friends of Family Farmers
The Garden International
The Gift Legacy Foundation
Glynwood Center
The Good Acre
Good Roots
Growing Gardens
Holistic Management International
Hudson Valley AgriBusiness Development Corporation
Humble Farm Refuge
Intervale Center
Iowa Valley RC&D
Izaak Walton League of America, Indiana Division
J&L Hall Farm LLC
Jubilee Justice
Kansas Rural Center
Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development
Kitchen Sync Strategies
Land For Good
Maine Farmland Trust
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
Market Umbrella
Massachusetts Food System Collaborative
Minnesota Farmers’ Market Association
National Center for Appropriate Technology
National Family Farm Coalition
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
New Britain Roots, Inc.
New Connecticut Farmer Alliance
New Entry Sustainable Farming Project
NJ Food Democracy Collaborative
Northeast Michigan Healthy Food Project
Northeast Organic Farming Association – Interstate Council
Northeast Organic Farming Association / Massachusetts Chapter
Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey
Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT)
Northwest Indiana Food Council
Nutrition & Fitness Collaborative of the Central Coast
NW Indiana Food Council
NWCT Food Hub
Orange County Land Trust
Oregon Agricultural Trust
Oregon Climate and Agriculture Network
Oregon Farm Corps
Oregon Farm to School Network
Oregon Organic Coalition
Organic Growers School
Otsego Land Trust
OurSpace World, Inc.
Pacific NW CSA Coalition
Pasa Sustainable Agriculture
Piedmont Environmental Council
Red Tomato
Renewing the Countryside
Rhode Island Food Policy Council
Rural Coalition
Santa Cruz Community Farmers Market
Saunderstown Garlic Farm
Southern Farmers Collaborative Group
Springfield Food Policy Council
Sprout
Sustainable Farming Association
Sustainable Systems Research Foundation
Tera Farm
Texas Center for Local Food
Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
Toxic Free North Carolina
Vermont Housing & Conservation Board
Vermont Land Trust
Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund
Viva Farms
Washington State Farmers Market Association
Washington State Senate
Washington State Tree Fruit Association
Wayne Jones Imani Resource Service LLC
Wisconsin Food Systems, Inc.
World Farmers
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