A program providing resources to food businesses in El Paso and along the Rio Grande has come to an end after the President Donald Trump administration cut the program short, forcing it to wrap up its remaining grants.
Formed in fall 2023, the Rio Grande Colonias Regional Food Business Center was a five-year, $30 million project aimed at expanding local food sources in U.S.-Mexico border counties – a region dotted with colonias, unincorporated settlements outside city limits that often lack basic infrastructure.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the termination of all Regional Food Business Centers last year, but permitted them to continue working with businesses they had already promised certain grants.
“The Biden Administration created multiple, massive programs without any long-term way to finance them,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins in a news release. “This is not sustainable for farmers who rely on these programs, and it flies in the face of Congressional intent.”
Texas A&M AgriLife led the center serving El Paso, which was one of the USDA’s 12 Regional Food Business Centers across the country.
The Trump administration is reallocating the program’s remaining funds to other “priorities supporting American agriculture,” USDA spokesperson Sarah Maroney Black told El Paso Matters.
Maroney Black did not specify which priorities.
“The Regional Food Business Centers are still in their closeout period, so we do not have final numbers for unspent funds,” she wrote in an email.
Beth Racine, director of operations and finance for the Rio Grande Colonias Regional Food Business Center, said when staff learned of the potential shutdown, they continued to work and got 31 businesses approved for federal funding before the termination notice.
Beginning last year, the center offered two types of grants to businesses operating within the food supply chain, including farms, distributors and retailers. One grant awarded up to $50,000 and technical assistance to businesses in counties with colonias. The other, known as the business builder grant, awarded up to $100,000 to businesses that had been operating for at least two years in Texas or New Mexico.
Though the USDA announced the closure of regional food business centers last summer, the agency said it would honor current and pending commitments to recipients of the business builder grant.
Neither Texas A&M Agrilife nor USDA shared the list of grant recipients to El Paso Matters. Program partner Feeding Texas, a nonprofit supporting food banks, declined to comment.
“This is a regrettable moment for those of us who have given our expertise and commitment to serve our community and advance our shared mission,” reads a statement on the food business center’s website.
“While this USDA program funding is ending, our dedication to transparency and goals of the program remain unchanged. We are actively working to ensure a smooth and responsible transition while we pursue other opportunities to continue this important food systems work.”
The post Food business center serving El Paso closes, Trump claws back funding appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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