Eliminating farm produce programs won't solve food insecurity in ag-rich Fresno region

Yahoo

23-03-2025

In the late 1960s when my parents stuffed all our belongings into a U-Haul trailer and the back of a well-traveled Chevy truck to make the 800-mile journey from the deserts of New México to the land of plenty, visions of endless foods like grapes, melons and oranges danced inside my teen head.
The San Joaquín Valley, however, presented a different reality: seasonal work in the fields that left very little money to sustain us year round. That is why we survived on canned chicken, blocks of cheese and powdered eggs that we got from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Those fried tacos my mother made with that canned chicken were scrumptious.
I soon came to realize that the Valley – whose dirt, climate and water nourish the world with its fruits, nuts and vegetables – can grow enough produce to feed the hungry in an area where 30% of the residents live beneath the poverty line. The problem remains that the economics of farming – seasonal work and seasonal paychecks – don't mesh with the human need for work, shelter and food.
Opinion
My stepfather was a hardworking man. He grew and baled alfalfa, worked as a farm manager, drove a motorcycle from Earlimart to Madera to operate heavy machinery, and always made sure there was a roof over our heads.
Alas, he found out that his paycheck didn't stretch far enough to provide for five kids. My mother, a former waitress, also pitched in selling Avon products. Still not enough.
It was a good thing that Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency weren't around to cripple the USDA's Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which provided welcomed boxes of surplus food. I, however, never cared much for those powdered eggs.
It is embarrassing that hunger persists in the land of plenty.
'We grow so much food, and yet the access and availability of that fresh produce is minimal,' a community advocate told me when I wrote about the Valley's food insecurity in 2003. 'We have so much hunger and poverty.'
That is reason enough that the USDA should not toy around with two Biden-era programs designed to distribute farm produce to schools, food banks and tribes. As part of the cost-cutting mandate from the Trump administration, the USDA cut off $1 billion from the Local Food for Schools program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement. After an uproar, funding for existing programs was unfrozen, but future funding is uncertain.
The programs were a win-win-win situation. Farmers made money by selling fresh produce, schools provided healthier meals for their students, and food banks counted on fresh food to include in their boxes of groceries for needy families.
Now, schools officials, food banks and farmers are left scratching their heads about why programs with bipartisan support vanished. Are starving kids – like those we see too often in television commercials lobbying for dollars to feed starving children in Third World countries – what the Trump administration and Musk's DOGE folks want to see?
Do they honestly believe the $1 billion will be better used to offset tax cuts for the richest – and most well-fed – Americans?
The Valley, despite its agricultural riches, remains hampered by poverty rates that are among the highest in the country. Fresno County had a poverty rate of 18.7% in 2023, according to the Federal Reserve Economic Data. In 1980, that rate was 14.5%.
A March 17 virtual press conference organized by Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, delivered reasons those programs should continue.
'Over 30% of the students in our schools live below the poverty rate,' said Fresno County Superintendent of Schools Michelle Cantwell-Copher. 'We consider those school meal programs a lifeline for our students.'
Fresno Unified spokesperson, Nikki Henry, said the district spent its $500,000 on fresh produce, organic chicken and turkey for its students. 'This funding didn't just benefit our students, it stayed right here in our local community supporting local farmers and businesses,' said Henry. 'When students eat well, they learn better. They stay focused. They thrive.'
The Fresno-based Central California Food Bank, the fiscal agent for 10 food banks from Amador to Kern counties, received more than $9 million from the USDA. The program, said food bank CEO Natalie Caples, shows how the government 'can effectively support local growers and producers.'
There's no reason the Trump administration should starve the Valley.
California could feel the misery of House GOP math that doesn't add up. Here's why | Opinion
Rep. Tom McClintock is failing his constituents, and he doesn't want to hear about it | Opinion