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June 02, 2026 | Source: Civil Eats | by Lisa Held
Ed Dubrick and his wife, Lindsey, grow vegetables, graze sheep, and raise chickens that forage for grubs in grassy pastures on seven acres in the middle of otherwise flat, endless fields of corn and soybeans around Cissna Park, Illinois. When they started DuChick Ranch in 2020, they sold their meat and eggs at farmers’ markets. But as their family grew, loading two kids in addition to a whole lot of food into a trailer before dawn on weekends became less sustainable, so they decided to try a shift into local wholesale markets.
Dubrick also advocates for small-scale livestock farms as a policy organizer at the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, so he knows more about markets than the average farmer. Still, he soon discovered it would be no easy feat.
Wholesale buyers, for example, often wanted him to meet impossible minimums or provide the same vegetables every week year-round, which doesn’t square with seasonal fluctuations on a small farm.
When he got the opportunity to participate in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program, everything changed.
The post The USDA’s Local Food Program Transformed Regional Food Systems. Now It’s Gone appeared first on Organic Consumers.
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