The Hands ― and the Truck ― That Feed Lompoc

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This article was underwritten in part by the Mickey Flacks Journalism Fund for Social Justice, a proud, innovative supporter of local news. To make a contribution go to sbcan.org/journalism_fund.

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Shelby Wild waved from inside a white truck parked just outside Lompoc’s Grange Hall. The truck’s right side hung open, its flap door extended up, retractable shelves for fruits and vegetables stretching out.

Every week, the truck drives to small local farms to purchase their latest harvest before selling it all over town, accepting federal food assistance benefits and offering discounts along the way. It also makes regular deliveries to the public food pantry.

Wild is the executive director of Route One Farmers’ Market, a nonprofit that delivers this locally farmed produce to the Lompoc community. She knows the network — farm to truck to pantry to kitchen — like the back of her hand. And she knows that federal cuts to food assistance programs means the need is rising. 

On a recent warm Thursday, my colleague Elaine Sanders and I met Wild to learn more about how the pieces fit together, and what’s at stake. 

Under the Hood

The truck’s purchase, Wild explained, was an exercise in patience. In 2019, the then-new nonprofit applied for a state grant, and three long years later, received the welcome news. “We got it and bought this truck,” Wild said. Inside she showed us a refrigeration unit big enough for two people to stand in.

The truck meant Route One qualified as an “aggregator,” or “food hub.” That opened the door for federal dollars, including money from the Local Food Purchasing Assistance Program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). With this funding, Route One could buy from small local farmers for market rates and donate that produce to local food banks and pantries (it’s called the Farms Together program). They could also sell produce to folks who use SNAP (the country’s largest federal food assistance program) and “match” their dollars, so they got more fruits and veggies for their buck — a program aptly called “market match.”

“It’s made the difference in bringing almost half a million dollars to our community, and $400,000 in sales to our local farmers,” Wild said. 

Mobile food markets like Route One’s also address accessibility challenges. People without reliable transportation to a grocery store, for example, may depend on convenience stores where the produce selection is limited. 

Alongside the truck, Route One facilitates the farmers’ market at Vandenberg Village. It’s the only farmers’ market between Solvang and San Luis Obispo to accept EBT (SNAP) benefits, meaning it’s also the only place across those 66 miles that offers the market-match program.

The program’s long-term future, however, is uncertain. In 2025, the USDA announced it would reduce five years of funding to three. Farmers’ markets and nonprofits across the country, including Route One, faced a major shortfall; in California alone, the projected loss came to $47 million.

Late last month, the state legislature funded the Farms Together and the Market-Match programs to the tune of $15 million each for the next year. It’s welcome news for Wild and other food aggregators. But it doesn’t provide the lasting stability the programs need.

Between the Boxes

After meeting Wild we made the 10-minute drive at the Lompoc Food Pantry.

“These folks serve an incredible amount of families in town,” she tells us as we pull into the parking lot on North Second Street, near the railroad tracks. 

Once inside, Wild greets volunteers as Sanders and I follow her to the back of the building, weaving through grocery carts of nonperishables, shelves of goods, and boxes of produce. We meet Monique Luna, who’s just arrived from her daily pickups. Luna travels to multiple stores each morning to collect unsold food.

Luna is the pantry’s coordinator, a title that encapsulates a range of responsibilities, from managing donors to running the warehouse to jumping in to distribute food when volunteer numbers are short. The pantry, she says, serves about 300 families every week.

Luna said more people in need have visited the pantry over the past two years, including those who used to donate to it. Last December, its shelves were nearly empty.

I asked Luna what people get wrong about the individuals who lean on the food pantry for help. “They don’t realize that there are people who don’t have a lot of options,” she said. “Like seniors on fixed-incomes who need to make ends meet.” 

Luna said that even when seniors do receive federal benefits, like SNAP, it’s usually a small amount. She’s known instances where a senior’s benefits totaled just $17 per month. 

It’s not only seniors. Single parents, large families, full-time caregivers, those out of work — all of them may struggle to pay for food. “If they didn’t need it, they wouldn’t be standing in lines,” Luna said. 

And the number of people who need assistance is only likely to grow. On June 1, the USDA expanded the work requirements for SNAP recipients, leaving 5,500 people in Santa Barbara County at risk of losing the money that helps them cover their grocery bills. That change occurs alongside rising healthcare premiums, spiking gas prices, and consistent hikes in rental rates. 

Fresh fruits and veggies like the ones donated by Route One are critical to the pantry’s stock. Without them, Luna said, it would have fewer healthy options on offer. Food drives often bring in canned foods, she said, and seasonal donations from grocers often include sweets, such as Halloween or Easter candy. 

In Lompoc, there aren’t as many deep pockets to help fill the food gap. But that doesn’t mean the community doesn’t care, or give. Back in December, when the shelves were near-bare, residents rallied to fill them back up. 

“It was really amazing to see how quickly everyone came together,” Luna said. 

In the Fields

We thanked Luna and made our way a few miles west to Dare 2 Dream Farms. The cityscape morphed into cropland. We passed towering eucalyptus trees before pulling up to a farm stand, a small building, and a pen of unbothered-looking goats. Two small boys spilled out from the office, followed by Dare 2 Dream owner Megan Raff. 

Raff owns property with her husband, Jeremy. In 2009, the pair moved back to care for Jeremy’s aging grandfather. A farm was not the goal, at least at the start. Rather, the Raffs wanted to help keep their elder relative, who grew up in the Oklahoma dust bowl and spent his early years catching birds to eat, engaged and healthy with a few chickens and quail. 

It grew from there — goats, hogs, and rows of produce. Dare 2 Dream started a Community Supported Agriculture chapter — an avenue for people looking to buy directly from growers — and eventually switched to a pay-as-you-go subscription model. Their stand is filled with produce, eggs, and honey from their farm and others nearby. They also sell backyard chickens and raised vegetable boxes.

Santa Barbara County harvested millions of pounds of fruits and vegetables last year, with the county’s crop gross production value (the majority of which is produce and nuts) hitting more than $2 billion. But that doesn’t mean farming here is easy, especially for family operations. There’s the high cost of land, for one. And then there’s the risk.

“There’s no safety net for farmers,” Raff said. “A lot of us small farmers, we don’t [qualify for] crop insurance.”

“There’s an entire ecosystem that you’re managing: many different pests, many different health concerns, and many different cycles,” Raff continued. “It becomes less and less profitable, even though it’s healthier for the food that’s being produced for the earth and for the community.”

Further, small farms can’t fulfill large government contracts that give them a guaranteed buyer, Raff said. They need to take the extra step to reach the community. 

Raff said the Farms Together program is an effective way of stabilizing local farms. With the program, Route One can pay the farmers’ full price and still make sure the food stays local, she explained.

“In the same way that most corn and soybean farmers have their kickbacks from the government, that was a step in the right direction for small farmers to get actual retail prices and secure markets for their food to go to,” Raff said. 

Despite its challenges, Raff is determined to stick with farming. She sees knowledge of the value of buying local produce gaining traction. It’s a fight she wants to be part of — one that centers human connection and health.

“Those are, I think, pillars of who I find myself to be on the inside,” she said. “It’s a reflection of what I really want to see in the world.”

In front of us, Sanders, Wild, and Raff’s two youngest sons are feeding hungry goats broccoli leaves. The little ones giggle as the animals extend their necks and lips, rip the leaves from their hands, and begin to munch.