Farmers in Berks County, Pennsylvania, facing steep losses amid federal funding cuts
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has axed $1 billion in funding for food assistance. That means schools and food banks are buying fewer apples from Beekman Orchards in Pike Township, Berks County.
"I'm not happy about it," fourth-generation farmer Calvin Beekman, owner of Beekman Orchards, said.
Beekman Orchards provides more than a million apples to food banks and schools every year, the owner said. Beekman said he expects to lose $200,000 in sales.
"We're just going to have to sit and try to find other ways to market this product," Beekman said.
Another challenge the farm is facing is tariffs. The plastic bags used to package apples mostly come from Canada. Beekman said it's taking three months to get another shipment of bags, whereas normally, it only takes two and a half weeks.
"The shipping delay is...they don't know what they need to charge going forward," Beekman said.
Beekman finds himself in limbo in more ways than one. He has 700 solar panels sitting in boxes, but can't install them because the federal grant he needs to pay for them is on hold.
"Our electric bill comes in the neighborhood of $100,000 a year," Beekman said. "The solar panels weren't going to totally get rid of our electric bill, but they were going to reduce it by about 80%."
Now, he might not get those savings. But Beekman remains optimistic.
He's trying to figure out how to pay bills and cut costs to lessen his losses.
"We have to have a little bit of faith that something is going to go right," Beekman said.
