Mar 11, 2025

USDA eliminates more than $1B in funding for local food purchases

A pair of federal programs that helped schools and food banks buy food from local farms and ranches have been eliminated by the USDA, with a national organization warning of more cuts to come.

The School Nutrition Association (SNA), a nonprofit which represent cafeteria workers and directors nationwide, said in a statement that the USDA notified multiple states of the termination of federal funding agreements to purchase food for school meals. An estimated $660 million through the Local Food for Schools program will no longer be available to support local producers and assist schools and child care facilities in expanding menu options, according to a SNA statement issued March 10.

“With research showing school meals are the healthiest meals Americans eat, Congress needs to invest in underfunded school meal programs rather than cut services critical to student achievement and health,” SNA President Shannon Gleave said in the statement. “These proposals would cause millions of children to lose access to free school meals at a time when working families are struggling with rising food costs. Meanwhile, short-staffed school nutrition teams, striving to improve menus and expand scratch cooking, would be saddled with time-consuming and costly paperwork created by new government inefficiencies.”

SNA said additional proposals include cutting an estimated 24,000 schools, serving 12 million students, off of the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows high-poverty schools to offer free meals to all students without an application.

Another proposal to end broad-based categorical eligibility would result in one million students losing automatic eligibility for free school meals, while a measure to require income verification with every free and reduced-price meal application would make the process more complex and delay benefits for eligible families, according to SNA.

SNA said that 850 school nutrition professionals participating in the organization’s Legislative Action Conference planned to head to Capitol Hill today to urge Congress to oppose the cuts.

Citing a USDA spokesperson, Politico reported that the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which supports food banks and other feeding organizations, has also been cut. USDA notified states that it was unfreezing funds for existing program agreements but did not plan to carry out a second round of funding for fiscal year 2025, according to the report.

Reuters reported the program would have funded about $500 million this year to support food banks.

The spokesperson told Politico that the funding, announced last October as part of a planned $1.13 billion investment designed to shore up the nation’s food supply chain, was no longer available and would end after 60-day notification.