Latest news with #LocalFoodPurchaseAssistanceProgram
The Hill
6 days ago
- Business
- The Hill
Federal food aid cuts will cause America's hunger crisis to skyrocket
The Daily Table, one of the largest food banks in Boston, recently announced it was closing its doors after serving more than 3 million people throughout the city over the past decade. The organization cited high food prices and an 'uncertain funding environment' as the main reasons. 'Without immediate funding to bridge us through 2025, we cannot continue,' read the group's farewell note to supporters. Pantries like the Daily Table across the country are struggling to stay open after the U.S. Department of Agriculture quietly cut $1 billion in 2025 funding back in March for food relief programs that have historically supported the nation's most disadvantaged communities. Specifically, the USDA abruptly slashed the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which supported food banks in addressing the growing hunger crisis in America. The agency also canceled the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, USDA-led initiatives that paid farmers and ranchers to produce the food that pantries and schools distributed to those in need. '[Funding] is no longer available and those agreements will be terminated following 60-day notification,' a USDA spokesperson bluntly told Politico when the cuts were discovered. Food banks depend on federal funding to help those in need. The USDA cuts have hit these organizations hard, stifling their ability to fulfill their missions in West Virginia, New York, California, Maryland, Washington, Oregon and beyond. Three District of Columbia-area food banks have delivered 1.4 million fewer meals since the USDA action, and these numbers are certain to grow. The need for food banks has never been greater. According to the USDA's own data, over 47 million people resided in food-insecure households in 2023. Demand in Nebraska is four times greater than it was in 2018, while some food pantries in Texas are serving 25 percent more people today than before the pandemic. And in what may be the most troubling statistic of all, nearly half of the residents in Kentucky and Indiana face an impossible choice of either paying for food or covering their utility bills. The USDA actions were a potential blow to farmers — a constituency the Trump administration has vowed to protect. They also defy the Trump administration's 'Farmers First' agenda. 'The defense of the family farm is a defense of everything America has been — and everything we will be,' wrote USDA Secretary Brooke L. Rollins in announcing the imperative. 'It is my privilege to come to their defense.' Canceling these programs is a slap in the face to every farmer who relies on federal support to help vulnerable Americans receive the food they need to survive. These economic initiatives drive local agriculture and are a vital source of revenue, especially for small farm operators. The USDA cuts deepen the impact for those who already lack access to healthy meals. Before the USDA rollbacks began, nearly 10 million children were at risk of going hungry this summer due to states opting out of the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer program. Eliminating federal support for food banks will make their untenable situation even worse. And if House Republicans move forward with a plan to decimate the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program in their proposed budget bill, the hunger crisis in America could become a full-blown emergency. SNAP currently helps 40 million low-income families afford groceries every month. The House bill, if approved, would gut the program by more than $260 billion over the next 10 years to help offset the Trump administration's tax cut proposals. The House GOP plan puts an added burden on states to make up the difference in SNAP support, many of which are financially strapped and won't be able to cover the funding gap. The USDA cuts come at a time when food prices are expected to rise 3.5 percent in 2025 alone due to recent tariff increases. They will have a 'significant and damaging impact' for millions who rely on these programs for food support, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and other U.S. senators have argued. Administration officials and members of Congress alike should heed the warnings from those on the front lines who run food banks and have seen firsthand the impacts the USDA cuts have had on their ability to address food insecurity in their communities. 'We've never before faced a situation like we are in now,' said Michael McKee, CEO of Virginia-based Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. '[The] need is well beyond any disaster or financial crisis that we've seen, and the government's response is to take food away.' 'This isn't about ideology,' he added. 'It's about math.' Let's have compassion for those with nothing to eat by restoring food programs that offer them nourishment and hope for a better future. Lyndon Haviland is a distinguished scholar at the CUNY School of Public Health and Health Policy.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Dr. Nirav Shah speaks on hunger at naming ceremony for Midcoast food warehouse
May 9—The Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program revealed a new name for its warehouse and administrative building on Thursday with a speech from former Maine and US public health official Dr. Nirav Shah. MCHPP's Brunswick Landing facility was named the Wright Center for Food Security, after donor Tom Wright, whose contribution allowed the organization to officially purchase the facility last year. Speakers at Thursday's event touched on the importance of food security programs amid a growing cost of living and federal cuts that have threatened to handicap food banks and other organizations that aid underserved populations. "If we're not able to feed people, then we really have to question what it means to have a community," Shah said. Shah, who now works as a visiting professor at Colby College in Waterville, became the face of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic and went on to become the principal deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under President Joe Biden. He gained a following among Mainers due to his daily television briefings in which he explained the coronavirus to the public and fielded journalists' questions. While the number of Mainers experiencing food insecurity is increasing, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has cut key programs that provide food to states, like The Emergency Food Assistance Program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program. "The demand for services at the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program saw its highest spike ever, just in the fist few months of this year alone," Shah told the crowd outside of MHPP's facility. "And so the work that is being done is more critical than ever, not just for all of the families that are affected, but for all our us; not just for public health, but for our community as a whole." Despite federal cuts and the impact of inflation, MCHPP executive director Hannah Chatalbash said the organization distributed more than 1.2 million meals last year. This was made possible through volunteers and donors like Wright, she said. "You helped us expand our partnerships with local farms and markets. You made it possible for us to invest in education and outreach and innovative solutions that don't just fill plates, but empower lives," Chatalbash said. "The Wright Center is more than a building, it's a symbol of what can happen when a community comes together." Shah asked audience members to consider the question: "What do we owe each other?" "Increasingly, it's becoming more common to say that the answer to that question is that we owe each other nothing," Shah said. "The more I thought about these issues, the more you realize that the answers to these problems start in our own communities." Also speaking Thursday, Wright said it has been "a privilege" to contribute to MCHPP's mission. "There is no amount of money, ingenuity, legislating, or political maneuvering that will make up for the deficit of human decency, brotherliness and heartfelt goodwill," Wright said. "This is, however, the very fabric of what Mid Coast Hunger Prevention does: human decency, brotherliness, and heartfelt goodwill." Copy the Story Link
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Local food growers in Wisconsin hit hard by Trump cuts
Stacey and Tenzin Botsford at Red Door Family Farm in Athens. STEVENS POINT – Red Door Family Farm in Marathon County will probably survive the Trump administration's latest punch – the failure to honor grower contracts that supported schools, pantries and also boosted local foods in grocery stores. But the owners of Red Door aren't so sure about some of their fellow local food growers. The administration recently eliminated the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program and the related Local Food for Schools Program, and in the process reneged on funds already committed for this year, leaving almost 300 farmers across the state holding the bag, or, in many cases, the seeds. At Red Door, owners Stacey and Tenzin Botsford won't be planting the carrot seeds they ordered. 'It would be bad business for me to do that,' says Stacey. 'Some seeds are already planted, all the onions are, but there's no reason for me to plant all those carrots.' Like many other local growers, Red Door actually raises food that people eat. They're the farmers you know at farmers markets all over the state. They're also the farmers who help stock super markets with local foods. And, until now, they provided nutritious, locally grown fruits and vegetables to food pantries and schools. What gets under their skin, Stacey Botsford says, is the arbitrary and capricious cutoff of funds already committed, funds that many farmers were promised and that caused many to invest in infrastructure and hire employees. 'The part that really bothers me is, if next year they said, 'We don't value that program,' that's fine, but you can't break the contract everyone signed. Now I can't trust government contracts anymore. I cannot imagine the widespread mistrust of government from this.' Red Door is probably diversified enough to weather the loss of up to $50,000 in anticipated income, but on a recent chilly spring day, rather than planting carrots, Stacey was searching for new markets. She says she's angry and heartbroken about the impact on other growers, including many Hmong farmers who invested in hoop houses and in some cases greenhouses based on projected income. 'Greenhouses, you don't own one unless you have enough to fill it. Heating those suckers is a lot of money. The LSP people were encouraging all the Hmong to build hoop houses and greenhouses. Those are huge investments.' Local and regional foods are mainstream in most parts of Wisconsin and across the country these days. It's been a success story of remarkable growth in the past few decades, built on the backs of farmers, many of them young, from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Some government assistance was available for hoop houses and other improvements, but for the most part, the growth was organic, from the ground up, without commodity payments or other government support. And while the local food programs were buffeted by the recent breach of contract, large commodity growers got a big boost from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to buffer them from the impacts of the Trump administration tariffs. USDA recently announced it will provide $10 billion in direct economic assistance to agricultural producers through the Emergency Crop Assistance Program EECAP for the 2024 crop year. The local foods programs were projected to cost $1 billion nationally. The payments to commodity growers, notes Botsford, will reward farmers not to grow crops like corn and soybeans. 'Government has always subsidized farms. We've been subsidizing farmers for years – all the commodity crops – and now they're paying farmers not to grow crops,' while local commodity growers take their losses, she said. 'So, they're making it impossible to sell what you've committed to and giving conventional farms $10 billion not to grow.' Red Door and hundreds of other farms rely on the Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative in Waupaca to source and transport their produce. The Food Hub Cooperative is a farmer-owned business supporting the local food system. Tara Roberts-Turner, general manager of the Food Hub, likened the suspension of the programs and promised funding to a natural disaster. 'This almost happened as fast and as crazy as a hailstorm. It pulls the legs right out from under you, and you're left saying 'Whoa, did that really happen?'' she says. The Food Hub serves more than 400 Wisconsin farmers, providing transportation and distribution services, along with other grower assistance. Under the LFPA program and its committed funding, the cooperative rented trucks, expanded staff, and coordinated with farmers for supply in preparation in 2025. The food hub and its growers are working to get the program restored, but there have been few good signs. 'If the LFPA is not restored, years of building the local farmer-to-market infrastructure that the Food Hub Cooperative has built for farmers with government investment will be completely thrown out the window,' says Turner-Roberts. The cooperative and farmer members are all businesses, Roberts-Turner says. They have business plans, investments, overhead and bottom lines. The programs eliminated by the Trump administration were built on other government efforts to support local food security, she adds. That was an investment in local businesses and communities. 'If you were to look at this from a business perspective, they would realize it's not a very sound decision. They lose all the investment they put in and cut off a bipartisan plan to make the state's food systems more stable. I think back to when these programs were kicked off, and it was supported by both sides of the aisle,' she says, adding that their farmer members span the political spectrum. And it's not just food pantries and schools. Supermarket chains like Kroger, Roundy's and other grocers buy local foods produced across the state. 'Food Hub growers supply over $3 million of produce to larger grocery stories and grocery distribution in the state,' Turner-Roberts says. If the growers don't survive, local foods will dissipate. 'We're shipping to them year-round, everything from potatoes and apples to crops like zucchini and yellow squash,' she says. 'The local Piggly Wiggly here (in Waupaca) has always been about supporting local. The premise is everyone knows this is important, right? When you ask farmers to buy seeds and implements and hire employees and then cut them off, it's going to make them less likely to participate in those programs. These farmers are members of their communities, but they're also business people.' Like cooperative member Stacey Botsford, Turner-Roberts says it's a heartbreaking time, even as spring planting is under way across the state. Are there any positives? U.S. Sen. Cory Booker has sponsored legislation to honor farmer contracts. 'We have not seen any Republicans who have signed on to that,' Turner-Roberts says. 'I find it curious. The food hub is not a political program. Food is not political. It's not just farmers we're worried about. We're two to five years into a seven-year project we have with a bunch of partners in state that have basically created middle-of-the-road infrastructure to sustain ourselves as a state, whether it's schools, pantries, whatever. What this means is that, next emergency we have that threatens our ability to feed ourselves, we'll have to start all over. In Wisconsin, Meanwhile, at the Food Hub, 'We've got truck leases three years out. We have to sign leases and find a way to pay for them and hire staff.' The food hub has farmer cooperators in all 72 counties in the state. As Botsford at Red Door notes, a lot of them are left scratching their heads. 'Margins are so narrow in farming, you don't plant $50,000 in food and not have anywhere to sell it,' she says. 'I'm talking to distributors all over the U.S., in the southeast and in bigger cities. There's a fairly significant food shortage coming, with the California fires and people who work on farms leaving because they're scared. People are concerned about the price of food.' These days, she's working with neighboring Amish farmers. 'I tell them I will sell their food and take a cut.' Those neighbors don't have coolers for food storage, but Red Door does. 'I say, 'I can move your food, and I have a cooler, so bring it to my house and put it in the cooler.' I feel very responsible to help these folks … these people need to sell their produce.' Tenzin Botsford is on the board of directors for Neighbors Place, a Marathon County nonprofit that was established in 1989 by several churches trying to address needs in the community. 'They don't know what to do now, how to make up the difference,' Stacey Botsford says. Red Door does cooperate with Cattail Organics, a neighboring farm, to supply farm-to-family food boxes through the Hunger Coalition, operated by United Way in Marathon County. But the past few weeks have been rough. 'The seeds are already in the ground for a lot of the producers. We are diverse enough to pivot, but I am concerned with the smaller farms, especially the Hmong farmers in our area who were encouraged to expand, make investments, and put all their trust in this one basket of eggs. My heart is breaking for all the families who will not get the produce and I'm perplexed at how starving the poor of nutrition and gutting the farmers who are producing food is going to propel the country in a positive way. It's not good on such a big scale.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Uncertainly lingers for food banks, farmers following federal funding cuts
An ongoing effort to reduce government spending continued by the Trump administration as nearly $1 billion in federal funding has been cut. The funding for that program would allow food banks to buy produce from local farms. Greg Hall, CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania, said one of those programs is LFPA, or the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program. 'We were notified that that program was going to end June 30, and it was a challenge for us. We had used it in our food purchasing budgets to kind of add the extra nutritious element,' said Hall. Pennsylvania food banks begin to feel effects from federal funding cuts Roger Schultz with John Schultz & Sons in North East said 2025 continues to be a tough year for farmers. He said the partnership with Second Harvest and his farm has been beneficial for both parties. 'We already had a lot of chaos going on in the wine industry, and this had just magnified it. We're going to grow the crop, whether it gets harvested and sold for anything remains to be seen,' said Schultz. 'It's a perfect fit for us. We sell our fruit within a hundred-mile circle, so having them purchase from us rather than trucking apples in from Washington or Michigan is way more cost-effective. It helps out the local economy here.' While production will remain the same year after year, Schultz said there's still a lot of uncertainty. Political organization holds 'Erie Strong' rally in Perry Square 'Fruit is a perennial crop. We have to go through all the motions. You're either in the production business with fruit or you're not taking care of stuff, and it's not worth anything when harvest comes. So, we're going to prune, we're going to fertilize, we're going to spray markets, uncertain,' said Schultz. Despite the uncertainty with the farmers, Hall is keeping a positive outlook towards the future. 'I remain optimistic because we have great community support, both from our community leaders, our donors, from our volunteers and in times like this we're able to lean into the community and kind of come together to find new and innovative ways to find the food our neighbors need,' said Hall. Schultz said farmers struggled last year as well, and he said this year is not looking any better. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
04-04-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Maryland Food Bank "devastated" after elimination of $4.4M in food deliveries, federal funding
The Maryland Food Bank says it is facing a $4.425 million funding shortfall after eliminating the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA) and cuts to The Emergency Feeding Program. The LFPA funding, which will run out at the end of November, had provided 5.6 million meals (or 6.6 million pounds of food) to Baltimore City and 21 Maryland counties in 2023-24, according to the organization. According to the organization, the program had increased the food bank's distribution of fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, and seafood by 25 October 2024. "The loss of the LFPA (the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program) is a devastating blow to our food system here in Maryland. This funding cut will reduce access to fresh produce, proteins, dairy, eggs, and seafood for families in need and impact local farmers and food producers who relied on the program," the Maryland Food Bank said. The USDA has also eliminated a portion of The Emergency Feeding Program funding, resulting in the loss of 13 scheduled food deliveries totaling over 460,000 pounds through July. The Maryland Food Bank is one of multiple entities that have been impacted by recent cuts to federal funding by the Trump administration. In total, the USDA canceled $1 billion in funding designated to schools and food banks to buy food directly from local farms, ranchers, and producers. $660 million of that funding was for the Local Food for Schools program, which is active in 40 states. $420 million of that funding belonged to Local Food Purchase Assistance programs. Last week, Maryland education leaders said they were in shock after the federal government rescinded a reimbursement of $360 million that it had previously committed to give to state schools. Johns Hopkins University said it has to "wind down critical work" both in Baltimore and internationally, after the termination of more than $800 million in USAID funding. As a result of these USAID cuts, the university said it is laying off more than 2,000 workers globally . JHU has been one of the top recipients of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for many years. Maryland's economy is particularly vulnerable to these cuts as it received nearly $115 billion in federal contracts, grants, and assistance payments last year—more than $18,500 per resident, the Baltimore Banner reported . The state saw a 24% increase in federal funding over the past five years, making it especially susceptible to the current reductions.
