DOGE cuts hitting Ohio farmers, food banks
Now, food providers have been left scrambling to find new ways to support families and schools that depend on fresh food assistance.
The USDA is cutting two federal programs that provided about $1 billion in funding to schools and food banks to buy food directly from local farms, ranchers and producers.
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Mike Hochron, senior vice president of communications for the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, said the need is higher than it's ever been, and the government's move has him worried.
'Costs for everything are going up,' Hochron said. 'This is not the time to be reducing resources.'
The move cuts about $420 million for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement, a program that helped feed hungry people with high-quality Ohio-grown products.
'When we look at the possibility of a big cut, that really would have a material impact on the quality and quantity of food that we have,' Hochron said.
Hochron said that just over the last three years, the Mid-Ohio Food Collective received about $3 million dollars in federal funds.
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'What it really helped us to do was to source particularly high-demand products like protein milk, dairy products, eggs, and then high-quality fruits and vegetables, which are the things that our neighbors and our customers told us that they needed most,' Hochron said.
According to Hochron, the program allowed them to distribute close to half a million pounds of food last year alone.
Walter Bonham with the Richland Gro-Op said he's also feeling the impact. He said they started utilizing the program last year and he's concerned about the abrupt decision.
'We didn't expect it to happen in the middle of the season while we were already preparing for the 2025 season,' Bonham said.
Bonham said the network of more than 40 different farmers was able to sell $300,000 worth of produce through the program last year.
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'We were actually able to talk to the food banks before the season even started and able to understand what their struggles were with food, that they had trouble procuring and then actually provide to them what they needed and what they wanted,' Bonham said.
Now, Bonham said these cuts are resulting in a domino effect.
'There's a huge impact, a bigger impact than just the produce going to the actual people,' Bonham said. 'But it actually helped uplift Ohio's agricultural and procurement kind of program and the aggregation that's been done in Ohio by them actually being really focused on local food procurement.'
Bonham said this is going to hurt a lot of farmers like himself. He said now it's a matter of scrambling to find different homes for their produce and securing different buyers.
'This is really a time where everyone's contributions matter the most and that way, we can make sure that every family, every senior, every child who needs a little help to have healthy food on their table is able to get that help,' Hochron said.
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