GREENSBURG — The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently cut over $1 billion from two programs that helped food banks and school meal programs purchase local food.Co-owner of Muse 3 Farms Chris Muse feeds his local community in St. Helena Parish and beyond, but he says the recent USDA cut s could affect his earnings. “We’re not doing justice to our community if we cannot get our products into those school systems,” Muse said.Muse said he’s been benefitting from the USDA's Farm to School Program since 2020 and it's been a major source of income. He said he provides fresh meat to three school districts and that it makes up 60 percent of his meat sales. He said the schools need a large amount of vegetables and to meet that demand, he had plans to expand his farm’s garden. “One of the challenges of a small farmer is to meet that demand. Not having those contracts in place, we’re going to take it slowly, we’re not going to scale up as quickly,” Muse said.Muse said it is difficult as a small farmer to get his products into retail stores. He added that the program was useful in selling his produce to schools.“It makes it difficult for small farmers to be able to estimate and predict you know how much vegetables we have to grow or how many animals we have to process to be able to meet demands,” he said.Muse said he doesn't just benefit from the program from selling his products, but he is able to build a bond with the community.“We can bring those kids out to the farm. They can see where the produce is being grown, and then when they go back to school and eat that they know where exactly their produce is coming from,” he said.Muse said he is optimistic that politicians will recognize how important the program and others that were cut are to feeding schoolchildren fresh and local foods.WBRZ previously reported that the USDA cuts also affected the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank.Permalink| Comments ...read more read less