When USDA Pulls the Plug ~ Independent Fishers Are Left Adrift
by Anna Nelson
The U.S. Department of Agriculture just pulled the rug out from under thousands of small food producers and independent fishers. By abruptly canceling the Regional Food Business Centers (RFBCs) and freezing billions in local food and energy programs, USDA has undercut one of the few federal efforts helping small harvesters connect to stable markets. For fishing families who were counting on these programs to build direct sales, upgrade handling, and bring higher-quality seafood to schools and food banks, the move couldn’t come at a worse time.
What Just Happened
On July 15, 2025, USDA Secretary Brooke L. Rollins announced the termination of the RFBC program, a pandemic-era, one-off funding initiative created under the Biden administration. Her statement was blunt:
“The Biden Administration created multiple, massive programs without any long-term way to finance them. This is not sustainable for farmers who rely on these programs, and it flies in the face of Congressional intent.”¹
USDA will honor over 450 existing Business Builder subawards through May 2026, but any RFBCs that haven’t issued grants are effectively dead. For thousands of small-scale farmers, food hubs, and fishers who had been planning projects for years, the abrupt decision landed like a gut punch.
The program was designed as a five-year investment to strengthen regional food systems, helping small and mid-sized producers, processors, and distributors tap into new markets. According to the Alaska Food Policy Council, which had been running the Alaska arm of the Islands and Remote Areas RFBC, over $6 million in funding earmarked for Alaska alone is now off the table.²
Robbi Mixon, AFPC’s Executive Director, didn’t mince words:
“This decision is devastating. USDA just pulled the rug out from under Alaska’s food and farm businesses, with no warning and no explanation after six months of silence… This program wasn’t just another grant. It was a pathway to real, long-term change.”²
A Wave of Cuts in 2025
The RFBC shutdown is just one part of a sweeping rollback of USDA programs this fiscal year. Since spring 2025, the department has frozen or terminated billions of dollars across multiple initiatives:
Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) and Local Food for Schools & Child Care (LFSCC) lost over $1 billion in funding—$660 million for schools and $420 million for food banks.³ ⁴
Rural energy grants, including REAP, were paused or reduced, leaving about $1 billion in limbo.⁵
Conservation and climate-smart programs have seen large-scale disruptions, with roughly $6 billion in funding frozen or canceled.⁵ ⁶
USDA argues these programs were created with temporary COVID relief money and lacked long-term Congressional backing. But for communities that had built plans around them, that explanation doesn’t soften the blow.
Repercussions for Independent Fishing Families
For fishers, the loss of RFBCs and related local-food programs cuts on multiple levels.
Market Access Wanes: RFBCs acted as matchmakers, connecting small producers with institutional buyers—schools, hospitals, and food banks. Without that bridge, fishers risk losing access to steady, high-value markets they were only beginning to establish.
Technical Assistance Lost: Many small operators relied on RFBC advisors to navigate food safety regulations, labeling rules, and procurement contracts. Without this guidance, expansion into institutional or direct-to-consumer markets becomes much harder.
Innovation Stalls: RFBC grants funded pilot projects like better packaging, onboard slurry-ice handling, and cold-storage upgrades. Losing that support means many fishers must shelve plans to improve product quality or expand their reach.
Alaska’s Case: A Potent Example
Alaska produces around 60% of U.S. seafood but receives only 0.5% of USDA food-system grants⁷. That imbalance, as Linda Behnken of the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust put it, makes seafood “a square peg in a round hole” when it comes to USDA programs.⁷ RFBCs were one of the few initiatives making headway in closing that gap.
Independent harvesters, especially those targeting premium Pacific cod, halibut, and pollock, stood to benefit from quality-focused marketing and technical support. Now, as Mixon noted, “This decision reinforces how vulnerable local food systems are to federal unpredictability.”²
But this isn’t just an Alaska story. In Maine, school cafeterias that had started sourcing local fish are dropping those purchases following LFPA cuts.³ In Maryland, the Maryland Food Bank lost $2.8 million in federal seafood purchasing, threatening both fishing businesses and food access for nearly two million people.⁸
Voices from the Field
Criticism of the decision has come from all corners of the food system. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition stated:
“The USDA has made yet another decision to prematurely end multi‑year agreements that are effectively serving the small family farms the administration claims to be the focus of their agenda.”⁹
Maryland Food Bank COO Meg Kimmel highlighted the direct effect on seafood supply:
“These cuts will add financial strain on the seafood industry… reducing access to fresh protein for the nearly 2 million people facing food insecurity.”⁸
Even members of Congress are pushing back. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand called the cancellation of LFPA and LFSCC funding “gravely concerning,” urging USDA to restore the more than $1 billion that had been approved for local and regional food purchases.⁴
USDA’s Logic
USDA maintains that these cuts are about fiscal responsibility. Rollins framed the RFBC and other local-food programs as pandemic-era stopgaps:
“Stakeholders should not plan on this program continuing. Any remaining funds will be repurposed to better support American agriculture.”¹
What’s considered “better support” is debatable. While some money will be redirected to traditional commodity support, programs critical to seafood—like rural energy grants for cold-storage upgrades—are also frozen.⁵
The Risk: Independent Seafood Gets Squeezed
Independent fishers already operate on thin margins, particularly those shifting from volume-based to quality-based models. Losing stable institutional markets just as these operators were investing in higher-quality handling is a serious setback.
Quality-focused fleets depend on consistent market access. Without it, there’s a risk that operators revert to high-volume, low-value models, further stressing fish stocks and undermining long-term economic resilience.
What Needs to Change
Seafood-specific funding streams: USDA programs need to recognize the unique challenges of boat-to-processor supply chains.
Hybrid federal-state programs: Coastal states could work with USDA to stabilize support even when federal priorities shift.
Farm Bill reforms: Seafood must be explicitly included in local food, conservation, and energy funding in the next Farm Bill cycle.
Reinstating RFBC or equivalent pilots: Coastal, high-production regions need market-connection hubs.
Simplified procurement pathways: Schools, hospitals, and food banks need easier mechanisms to source local seafood.
Why It Still Matters
Seafood isn’t just another product, it’s part of the cultural and economic fabric of America’s coasts. High-quality, responsibly harvested fish provides nutrition, supports local jobs, and keeps fishing traditions alive. When federal support for local markets disappears, it’s not just small businesses that suffer; entire communities lose.
Independent fishers have proven that quality can be a path to resilience. But without stable funding and fair market access, the future of that model is in jeopardy.
Endnotes
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Secretary Rollins Terminates COVID-era Program. Press Release, July 15, 2025. Rollins announces immediate RFBC termination, citing lack of long-term funding and Congressional intent.
Alaska Food Policy Council. Press Statement: RFBC Cancellation. July 15, 2025. Quotes from Robbi Mixon describing the funding loss as “devastating” and warning of federal unpredictability.
KOSU and KFF Health News. Reporting on USDA’s cancellation of Local Food Purchase Assistance and Local Food for Schools & Child Care funding, totaling $1 billion in lost contracts. March 2025.
Office of U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Press Release: Gillibrand Demands USDA Reverse $1 Billion in Canceled Local Food Funding. March 2025.
Canary Media. USDA Pauses Rural Energy Grants, Leaving $1 Billion Frozen. April 2025.
Coastal Conservation League. USDA Funding Freeze Puts Family Farmers and Food Hubs at Risk. April 2025.
Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust. New Research Shows Seafood Gets Just Half a Percent of USDA Food Funding. July 10, 2025.
SeafoodSource. Federal Funding Cuts Eliminate Steady Purchases of Seafood. April 2025. Quotes Meg Kimmel of Maryland Food Bank on impacts to seafood availability.
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Statement on RFBC Termination. July 2025.
Anna Nelson is a business and grant writing consultant specializing in commercial fishing businesses. She works with independent fishermen, fishing organizations, and seafood stakeholders to develop strategies for sustainability, market access, and industry resilience. Anna is the curator, editor, and one of the contributing authors to The Quality Line.