09/09/2025
MAGA strikes again!
I started a business to manufacture and sell the best hazelnut oil and hazelnut flour from roasted, Oregon hazelnuts. It’s a small business; I work in small batches using simple, artisanal processes to roast the nuts, press the oil and mill the flour. Last Sunday, I attended a suppliers showcase event at Provisions Marketplace in Eugene. There I met Ben Maude of Chili Royale, who was presenting his line of chili crisp oils at the event (great products by the way). Ben mentioned that he was receiving process and marketing assistance through a USDA Regional Food Business Center program that was sending him to a food trade show and making connections for him to food buyers and brokers.
Great, I thought; I want to get in on that! So, today I reached out to contacts at the Oregon Department of Agriculture and Oregon State University to inquire about this program. I got a response this afternoon: “I’m sorry to tell you that USDA terminated the regional food business centers program – all the centers, across the U.S. – with an end date of next Monday, Sept. 15. So the RFBC is no longer able to provide the services we provided to Ben and Chili Royale.”
So here we are, another great program aimed at supporting small businesses gone. And these are businesses that are developing new products using the output of local farms, employing local people and contributing to their local economies. Who needs that? We all do!!