The Department of Agriculture has cut over $1 billion in funding aimed at helping schools and food banks purchase from local farmers, according to a news report and a school nutrition nonprofit. The cuts come amid the Trump administration’s push to purge federal spending.
States were notified recently that the USDA had cut the funding for the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program for 2025, the organization School Nutrition Association said in a news release.
The agency also cut funds for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which operates similarly for the food supplies for local food banks and organizations in underserved communities, according to a report from Politico. Citing an unnamed spokesperson within the USDA, Politico reported that existing LFPA agreements would continue but that there would not be another round of funding this year.
The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources confirmed it was notified March 7 that the 2025 funding would be terminated within 60 days.
Here’s what to know about the programs targeted in the latest round of federal spending cuts:
What is the Local Food for Schools program?
The Local Food for Schools program allocated federal funding to states, tribes and territories so that they could purchase healthy, unprocessed foods from farmers and suppliers within their own communities to serve at schools and childcare centers.
“This program will strengthen the food system for schools and childcare institutions by helping to build a fair, competitive, and resilient local food chain, and expand local and regional markets with an emphasis on purchasing from historically underserved producers and processors,” the USDA website says on the program’s page.
The program built new income sources for local farmers and food producers. In Massachusetts, the state’s agriculture department said the school and food bank programs led to the purchasing of food from 500 farmers in the state.
The program was expanded to include child care centers in addition to schools, the USDA announced in December: “Families can feel good knowing their kids are eating food that was grown right in their own community,” said then-Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Cindy Long.
What is the food bank program?
The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program similarly engages states in agreements to spend federal dollars on purchasing food from local farms and suppliers to fuel food banks.
The agreements allow states, tribal and territorial governments to purchase food within their own communities – in the state itself or within 400 miles of the food’s destination. That food goes to food banks and organizations that feed people in “underserved communities,” according to the USDA’s website.
The goal of the program, which was launched in 2021, is to “improve food and agricultural supply chain resiliency,” the website said. Food banks and food pantries would distribute nutritious, locally sourced foods.
Both programs were introduced to respond to the impacts to the food supply chain brought on by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the USDA. As of the end of 2024, food purchased through the program had been distributed at 7,900 food banks, food pantries, and communities in the U.S., the agency said.
Why is USDA cutting school, food bank funds?
The cuts are the latest in a long list of spending programs and jobs to be cut from the federal government, cuts touted by President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (spearheaded by Elon Musk).
According to the Massachusetts agriculture department, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service determined the funding “no longer effectuates federal agency priorities, and that termination of the funds is appropriate.”
The USDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY on Tuesday.
How much money does USDA spend on school, food bank programs?
The funding cuts to the local school and food bank programs amount to over $1 billion, according to Politico. The School Nutrition Association said $660 million of that money was for schools to make the local food purchases.
In December 2024, the USDA announced a $1.13 billion investment for the programs. Of that funding, $471.5 million was slotted for states and territories to “purchase local, unprocessed, or minimally processed domestic foods” to serve in schools participating in free or reduced-cost meal programs, and $188.6 million for child care centers participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
Contributing: Reuters
