A family-run farm in south suburban Matteson learned it was losing their federal funding weeks after the bird flu wiped out its entire flock.
In October, Kakadoodle Farm was informed it would receive a $220,000 grant. But Tuesday, it was suspended due to the Trump administration’s freeze on federal funding.
The news came weeks after owners MariKate and Marty Thomas lost their flock of 3,000 chickens to the avian flu in January.
“First the bird flu, and then this. Like, what’s next?” Marty Thomas told the Sun-Times Friday.
The grant, part of the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program, was just awaiting approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Marty Thomas.
The couple was going to use the funds to remodel an old pole barn and turn it into their new distribution center. The new distribution center would be used to collect food from other local farmers and ship it to their customers.
They’d already spent $80,000 on renovations — expecting to be reimbursed with the grant. They poured new concrete and installed insulation, but now, there’s no way they can complete the job.
“We just did the bare minimum necessary for us to start to operating out of that building,” said Marty Thomas. “It’s still very much a work in progress. We don’t have the funds at all to continue on the project right now.”
Two other pending grants also were canceled, said Marty Thomas.
Marty Thomas said they’re disappointed by the loss but hope the grants eventually will be reinstated, though he made it clear they were confident their business would survive without government assistance.
“I know that we’ll come out on the other side of this stronger than ever before,” he said. “We’ve always been willing to use that support from the government when it was available, but our business isn’t dependent on it. We’ve always been very conscious not to do that because you can’t rely on it.”
Gov. JB Pritzker called cuts to the programs a “slap in the face” to Illinois farmers.
“The Trump Administration’s refusal to release grant funds doesn’t just hurt farmers in the program, it devastates our most vulnerable, food-insecure communities relying on meat, fresh produce and other nutritious donations,” Pritzker said in a statement.
Though the farm remains under quarantine due to avian flu, their online market is up and running, filling orders for meat, produce and eggs from other local farms.
USDA officials will lift the quarantine orders in June, Marty Thomas said, adding: “I think we’ll have a party for the reopening.”
Despite the challenges, Marty Thomas said they have received “overwhelming” community support. Their GoFundMe page had raised over $46,500 as of Friday night.