Latest news with #LocalFoodforSchools
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Major USDA cuts cripple food banks, school food programs in North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina — At Riverside High School in Durham, North Carolina, the food is as fresh as can be because most of it comes from local growers. "We receive local shredded carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, because we feel that we need to support people in our own communities," Jim Keaten, who runs the nutrition program for Durham Public Schools, told CBS News. Keaten said the school district's produce comes from local growers under a U.S. Department of Agriculture program that was cut by the Trump administration. "Immediately, my thoughts were, what are we going to do?" Keaten said of his first response when he learned the program funding had been cut. "Because these are the funds we use to provide local foods to kids." In March, the White House cut two federal programs that provide just over $1 billion in annual funding to school districts and food banks nationwide. It slashed $660 million in funding to the Local Food for Schools program, and another $420 million to the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement, which goes to food banks and other local groups. The impact is being felt in every state, including North Carolina, where CBS News followed the trail of food and funds to assess the impact of the cuts. One of the growers providing food to schools is Pine Knot Farms in Hurdle Mills, about one hour's drive from Riverside High School. Linda Leach-Hughes, co-owner of the farm, said last year it sold $150,000 in produce to local schools. She calls the sudden loss of revenue "devastating." "If we do not have this extra income coming in to help local folks in the community, then we will have to lay folks off, we can no longer employ folks," Leach-Hughes told CBS News. Pine Knot Farms also provides produce to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. Amy Beros, the food bank's president and CEO, said its share of lost aid from the cuts is now at about $2 million. "I don't understand," Beros said. "We're facing one of the worst hunger crises in decades, and now we're going to increase the need even more. The access to this food makes them not have to choose between the life-saving medicine they need and food for that month." The concern over who gets fed is especially felt by those who grow it. "How are you going to make America great again if you're taking food out of the mouths of babies, senior citizens, nursing homes, rehab centers, hospitals, all of these agencies that are dependent on federal dollars?" Leah-Hughes asked. "How are you going to make America great again?" E.l.f. Beauty calls Hailey Bieber an industry disruptor amid Rhode sale These 3 record breakers have one thing in common Reporter's Notebook: John Dickerson reflects on his spelling woes
Chicago Tribune
22-04-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
East Aurora renews food service contracts for next school year
On Monday, the East Aurora School District 131 school board approved the renewal of the district's food service provider contracts for next year. The district uses Whitsons Nutrition, a food service management company based in Islandia, New York, to provide meals for all of its elementary schools and for Cowherd Middle School, according to Monday's meeting agenda. They use Sodexo America in North Bethesda, Maryland, to provide meals for the district's middle schools as well as East Aurora High School. This is the first renewal of five one-year agreements the district has entered into with the providers, the district's Chief Financial Officer Michael Engel said at Monday's meeting. All meal prices will be raised by 3%, according to the contract renewal agreements with the two providers. Per a memo from Engel to the district superintendent, increases may not exceed the Consumer Price Index-Food Away from Home rate, which is currently 3.6%. For example, Whitsons' price for breakfast will increase from $2.42 to $2.49, and lunch will increase from approximately $4 to $4.11, according to the contract. For Sodexo, breakfast will increase from approximately $2.20 to $2.27, and lunch will go from roughly $4.22 to $4.34, as outlined in the contract approved Monday. The contracts were approved unanimously at the meeting, with board member Bruce Schubert absent. District Superintendent Robert Halverson was also absent Monday. East Aurora participates in the Community Eligibility Program, according to the district website, a meal-pricing option that's part of the National School Lunch program. The program allows school districts with high poverty levels to serve breakfast and lunch to all students without collecting household applications, according to the USDA. After paying for the meals, the district is '100% reimbursed by the USDA, by the federal government, for (the) breakfast, lunch, supper and snack program throughout the district,' according to Engel. The reimbursement rates for the next fiscal year have not yet been released, according to Engel's memo, but the reimbursement rate this past school year for districts with high need was $4.54 for lunch and $2.84 for breakfast, according to the Illinois State Board of Education — meaning next year's rates for both food service companies fall below those rates. Both contracts note, however, that prices must be quoted 'as if no USDA commodities will be received.' And, with the possibility of funding cuts to schools by President Donald Trump's administration, the future of some federal funding remains uncertain. For example, in March, the United States Department of Agriculture said it was ending two pandemic-era programs that provided over $1 billion for schools and food banks to purchase food from local farmers. The Local Food for Schools program represented more than half of that money. The Illinois State Board of Education had signed an agreement in January to continue the Local Food for Schools program, but is now set to lose that funding after Jan. 31, 2026, the state board said in March. Later in March, Trump signed an executive order calling for the dismantling of the Department of Education. But, while the extent to which possible Trump administration cuts to USDA funding for school meals or the Department of Education comes to bear on East Aurora and other school districts remains to be seen, District 131 said they do not anticipate any interruptions to school meal funding for the 2025-26 year, a district spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday. 'There has been some governmental, kind of, changes within (the USDA commodities), that they're sometimes on the table, off the table, but for next year, we're still going forward,' Engel said at Monday's meeting. 'I can't guess or foresee what the U.S. government's going to do in fiscal year (2027) coming up after that, but as of right now we are planning to use the USDA commodities going forward.'
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
WA food banks bracing for potential impacts from federal cuts and tariffs
(Photo courtesy of Washington State Department of Agriculture) This article was first published by the Yakima Herald-Republic. Cuts to U.S. Department of Agriculture food assistance programs could hit local farmers, food banks and their users at a time when more families are reliant on them. Northwest Harvest CEO Thomas Reynolds has been tracking the situation closely. Northwest Harvest is a statewide nonprofit that distributes goods to most food banks in Yakima County, and has 400 partners across the state. Since 2023, it has operated the Fruitvale Community Market in Yakima, a food pantry modeled after a grocery store and one of the largest food banks in the state. Lately, the lines at Fruitvale Community Market have been much longer than usual, Reynolds told the Yakima Herald-Republic. The food bank is open three days a week. Last summer, it served about 750 households on the days it was open, a number that's now grown to 1,300 households. 'That's a really strong indicator that household budgets are being constrained by the increased cost of rent, of fuel, of food and of health care,' Reynolds said. The federal funding situation is changing each day, he said. 'It's just a dynamic situation right now,' Reynolds said. He does not believe a complete federal cut would happen, as too many constituents rely on these programs. If there was a complete cut, 'every food bank overnight would have to quadruple what they're doing just to meet the gap,' he said. Reynolds said Northwest Harvest is preparing for a wide range of scenarios. While the organization does not rely on federal funding to operate, many of its partners do. Northwest Harvest depends on donations of money and food, and has some state support. Adding to the situation, and his worries, are concerns about potential labor shortages during the upcoming harvest season and tariffs impacting farmers' bottom line, which might lower produce donations to Northwest Harvest. Northwest Harvest has increased its budget for purchasing food in case less food is donated, he said. 'The growers, the orchardists, the ranchers in the Yakima Valley are some of the most generous people in Washington state,' Reynolds said. About 70% of the foods the organization distributes across the state are fruits and vegetables, most of which are grown near Yakima, he said. It also receives local beef, dairy, eggs and will trade some of its apples for other in-demand goods it can't get locally, like citrus fruit. He's also concerned about how the terminations of USDA research positions might impact the future of American agriculture. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat who represents Washington state, lambasted the Trump administration for funding cuts in a news conference on April 10. She said $1.6 billion in funds that help food banks, public school students and local farmers have been cut nationwide. The USDA's Local Food for Schools program awards funds to schools to buy local produce; the Local Food Purchase Assistance program helps states, tribes and territories buy local food for food banks; and the Emergency Food Assistance Program provides food assistance to people with low incomes. All are facing cuts. Around $25 million would have gone to Washington state alone, she said. 'Right now, some of the richest and most powerful men in the world are stealing food from our kids,' Murray said. Joining Murray was Cal Coblentz, CEO of Partners Inland Northwest, a food bank in Spokane. Coblentz said that at least a quarter of households in Washington need some kind of food assistance, according to studies by the state Department of Agriculture. That increased from just one in seven in 2021, he said. In some areas, up to 70% of households with children might need food assistance. So far, 23 school districts have withdrawn from the Local Food from Schools program because they don't have money in their budgets to make up for the federal funding shortfall, according to Murray's office. The program helps get fresh food to around 850,000 students in Washington state, the senator said. The Local Food Purchase Assistance program and the Emergency Food Assistance Program also saw cuts of $500 million each nationwide, she said. USDA Farm to School grants also were canceled, which help food purchasing programs as well as field trips and school gardens. 'These programs support American farmers by buying their products,' Murray said. Cutting the programs hurt the domestic market at a time when the international market is in flux with proposed tariffs, she said. 'It's almost as if their plan is to hammer farmers as hard as they can,' Murray said. Haley Olsen-Wailand, a farmer who grows organic vegetables on the Olympic Peninsula, said last year was the best year financially in her family's 22 years of growing. But now, she has major concerns about the future with the federal cuts. She said just under 20% of her farm's gross sales came from sales to food banks, spurred directly by Local Food Purchase Assistance program funds, she said. A grocery store might not want curved cucumbers, but food banks will buy them. 'As a farmer, having a market for secondary vegetables and fruits is very valuable,' she said. Local schools were starting to make more meals from scratch using local produce because of the programs. 'We were excited by the idea that we had an expanding local market,' she said. 'In our industry, new markets are few and far between.' Now she's not as confident. 'We put these seeds in the ground, and it's months before we harvest them. We need to know where they are going, she said. 'Losing these markets is a really big blow to us right as our costs are rising.' Questen Inghram is a Murrow News Fellow at the Yakima Herald-Republic. Email qinghram@ or call 509-577-7674.
Chicago Tribune
18-04-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Federal farm-to-school funding withers, devastates school lunch programs
Dawn Kelley, director of food services at Portage Township Schools, was at an event intended to celebrate the success of the National Farm to School Lunch Program when she found out the federal program's funding was canceled. It turned into a funeral dirge for the program instead. In Northwest Indiana, the program has allowed the Northwest Indiana Food Council to provide 2 million pounds of fresh foods to 134 schools, she said. The program transformed school lunches in the three years since it began. Nick Alessandri, director of food services at River Forest Community School Corp., leafed through invoices to see how much the district has benefitted this year. 'It's right around $80,000,' he said. Listening to the farm-fresh products will make a person hungry: Ground beef, hamburger patties, pork shoulder, breakfast sausage, Canadian bacon, sausage links, eggs, lettuce, whole tomatoes, various produce, probably 16 varieties of apples. 'We do participate in the Local Food for Schools program at Yost Elementary School and it is very disappointing that this program is being cut. Yost is our only school that qualified to participate, but amidst rising food costs and inflation impacting every aspect of our operation, every little bit helps. It's frustrating to say the least,' Duneland School Corp. Director of Child Nutrition Tammy Watkins said. At Portage, breakfasts have included real maple syrup and local honey for granola bars, Kelley said. The students love the difference the food has made. 'It's a huge effect on them. They notice the difference in the quality,' Alessandri said. 'We get fresh broccoli, they're cleaning me out,' easily consuming 70 to 80 pounds of it during lunch, Alessandri said. They can taste the difference between fresh fruit and canned or frozen, he noted. 'My meal counts go up every year.' From August to October, then April and May, River Forest students have enjoyed the salad bar with fresh produce from the program. Alessandri was hired the year the federal program began. With fresh food, there's less waste. Frozen vegetables often get dumped in the trash because they have less flavor, he said. 'Every day we're doing some stuff from scratch here,' he said. 'I invested time with my staff, showing them some things.' Portage's food service program has also involves a lot of scratch cooking. The district has won numerous awards for its food service program recently. Students have been able to try a lot of different foods than they normally would have, Kelley said. At Fegely Middle School, Principal Ann Marie Caballero introduced students to arroz con pollo, a Mexican chicken and rice dish that was one of her grandmother's specialties. Arroz con pollo's January debut on the school lunch menu was part of a push for Portage students to experience various ethnic foods. Melissa Deavers, director of communications and community engagement at Portage, said her young daughter is a picky eater but has tried new foods because of the fresh ingredients. 'Her palate has expanded so much,' Deavers said. Portage Township School Board member Lori Wilkie said it's important to be aware of additives, food dyes and other ingredients in processed foods that can have adverse consequences for some students. 'When you have fresh foods, you don't have these kinds of things,' she said. Scratch cooking with fresh ingredients takes skill. It's different with serving processed foods. 'I can hire a 10-year-old to kid to do this, and they'd probably do well,' Alessandri said. At South Haven Elementary School, second graders in the gardening club harvested lettuce Thursday from a hydroponics setup in the school's sensory-friendly room. Connie Melton, club sponsor, watched the kids put on plastic gloves to handle the lettuce leaves. 'Pick from the back for me. Get those big leaves,' she said. Occasionally, one of the leaves got a taste test. Either finish it or throw it away, Melton said. That leaf can't be put in with others harvested. Every 28 days, the lettuce is ready to harvest. The leaves are either added to a salad bar for the kids or served to the staff for salads. The gardening club is limited to second graders because older students tend to get involved in different clubs, Melton said. The gardening club for second graders began three years ago. 'Our courtyard needed some love,' she said, so a sensory garden now allows students to smell, touch and see – and sometimes taste – things in the garden. 'It gives them ownership in the building,' Melton said. It also educates students on what growing their own food is like, Deavers said. 'This really gives them a look into different types of communities.' Portage has several hydroponic gardens throughout the district, three of them purchased through a $20,000 grant, Kelley said. Each produces about 25 pounds of food every 28 days. Not all the food served to students is fresh. 'We're not going to hand bread every chicken tender. We'd be here to midnight,' Alessandri said. But fresh food is better. The ground beef sourced from nearby farms is still pink, not a dull brown. 'Unfortunately, we're not going to be able to buy fresh ground beef. It's not in the budget,' Kelley said. For two years, Portage has provided free lunches and breakfasts to students. There's a cost to prepare the meals, however. The district gets reimbursed $2.84 per breakfast served and $4.45 per lunch. There's a complicated formula that goes into determining this that includes 48% of Portage students qualifying for free lunches based on household income. 'We had no notice' when the funding for the program was canceled, Kelley said. This is the last school year for the program. In Indiana, though, school budgets are for the calendar year. 'It's terrible. I don't really want to think about it. Right now, my plan is I don't know,' Alessandri said. The day he opened an email saying the program had been canceled was the day after the deadline for applying for various commodities through a different program. In 2011, first lady Michelle Obama got schools eating healthier. President Joe Biden stressed local sourcing of foods, which helps both children and local farmers. Biden created the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Farm to School Lunch Program. 'All of a sudden Trump gets in office, and it's like boom, we're not going to do it anymore,' Alessandri said. It's not that the Trump administration doesn't like the same ideas. On April 9, USA Today published an op-ed jointly written by Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. touting Trump's Make America Healthy Again campaign. 'First, we are advancing buy American policies that will get food grown by American farmers into the hands of children and families through our nutritious food programs,' they wrote. Since then, Kennedy appeared with Indiana Gov. Mike Braun to promote the idea. But the federal program, still listed on the USDA website, remains unfunded after the end of this school year. 'If that's the case, then what are we doing? They're basically contradicting what they're saying,' Alessandri said. 'We have it right here in our back yard, and we're closing it down.' 'I just don't see the logic behind this,' he said. Kelley is urging people to write to their federal representatives in Congress, House and Senate alike, to urge that funding be restored for the National Farm to School Lunch Program. 'Our community really stands behind us,' Alessandri said. 'I just can't fathom why they're doing this,' he said of the USDA program ending. The $1 billion spent nationwide for the program is a drop in the bucket for the federal government but has made a huge difference in children's lives, Alessandri said. 'It starts from childhood, nutrition and getting kids to eat different foods,' he said. 'If that's what they're exposed to, that's what they're going to know.' Even if the program were being canceled, phasing it out would have made more sense, Alessandri said. 'It would be nice if we got even partial funding,' he said. Farmers aren't getting rich from the program. They've got to work hard to break even, he said. Farming is a difficult job. It also involves planning well before the season begins to figure out what crops to plant and who potential customers will be. 'It's really a crisis on our hands,' Alessandri said. 'I just don't see how they can take this away from kids. That's the worst thing about this.'
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Small Iowa farms could help Iowa food pantries and schools … until federal cuts
IOWA — While Iowa farmers wait to see how President Trump's tariffs might cut into their profits, his cuts to federal aid programs are already hitting them. For the past three years the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Local Food for Schools (LFS) and Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) programs helped Iowa food pantries and public schools purchase fresh meat, dairy, and produce from small Iowa farms. Non-profit organizations like the Iowa Food Cooperative (IFC) called it a 'win-win.' 'It was amazing to be able to support farmers in that way,' says IFC's Hilary Burbank. 'For them to be able to raise all of this amazing food and to get it to people who maybe don't usually have access to that type of food — they made a big difference.' Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Bar & Eatery begins remodel The Trump administration cut those programs this year. This will mean the pantries and schools will have a harder time buying fresh, locally-raised food. It also means small local farmers will lose a consistent stream of income. 'They were able to take some of that money and do things like add to the chicken flocks and buy more seeds,' Burbank says. 'They had begun to rely on it.' This year, the IFC will be trying to help the producers make up for the loss by leaning into a new membership campaign. Shoppers can get healthy, locally-raised food … and help the Iowans who produce it. 'It's a great thing for producers as well because they are able to get a list of what's been ordered instead of being at a farmer's market and hoping that stuff is getting purchased,' Burbank explains. A membership to the IFC costs $50, but newcomers are allowed two free orders before a membership purchase is required. You'll find the Iowa Food Co-Op on Franklin Avenue in Des Moines, and online. Iowa News: Veterans hooked on fishing; raising funds for upcoming trip Greenfield Mercantile breathes new life into historic storefront Small Iowa farms could help Iowa food pantries and schools … until federal cuts Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Bar & Eatery begins remodel Iowa bill lowering the retirement age for police officers advances in House subcommittee Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
