News
Budget cuts to a USDA program pose threats to foodbanks, farmers and food processors
By: Donovan Varney
Posted on:
ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — The federal government has cut a half-a-billion-dollar program at the USDA that helps foodbanks make purchases from local farmers and food processors.
The end of this program is a significant loss for Ohio, home to 12 regional foodbanks, including the Southeast Ohio Foodbank. Over $26 million is allocated to the foodbanks for local food purchases through the Local Food Purchase Cooperative Agreement (LFPA).
Eva Bloom, director of development for Hocking Athens Perry Community Action (HAPCAP) — a nonprofit partner of the Southeast Ohio Foodbank – said the impact will be felt almost immediately.
“The amount of food that we get from these federal programs is the largest source that we get, and it has been for years and years,” Bloom said.
“They’re going to get less,” she said. “They’re going to get less each time they visit. There’s just no other way of coping with that problem.”
According to Bloom, this could mean one to two fewer cans of food per person each visit to the foodbank. She added that the foodbank is experiencing a 20% increase in demand from 2022.
“We’ve been seeing a really high demand for assistance,” she said. “We haven’t seen the same level of food coming into our door to be able to supply out to them.”
The solution isn’t as simple as people may think. While private donations do help, Bloom said they’re no substitute for the federal support they’re used to receiving.
“We cannot solve this by everybody you know writing an additional $25 check,” she said. “The amount of support we get through this program is significant.”
The cuts don’t just affect foodbanks, but also local farmers and food distributors who are losing a major source of sales.
Stephen Fowler, a chicken farmer in Logan, was able to get his business started thanks to the LFPA.
“It was a big relief, you know? To have something like that,” he said. “So, I do think programs like this are a really big deal for newer, up-and-coming farmers.”
Fowler said selling directly to foodbanks gave his business guaranteed sales. When it came time to move harder-to-sell products, like chicken drumsticks, he had somewhere they could go.
“It was really handy as an entrepreneur trying to grow a business,” he said. “It gave me a little bit of a better cash flow or improved financial stability.”
For the last two years that money also supported a dairy distributor in Pomeroy called Snowville Creamery. CEO Anna Shields said the LFPA sales made up 10% of their revenue and allowed them to have a fully staffed team with workers’ benefits.
“When you talk about what it meant to us to get this money, there’s myself and many others that were out there that were literally moved to tears,” Shields said. “From a professional sense we knew that we had to secure something big to keep us alive.”
Without those funds, she said the future is uncertain for her business and many others. But Shields does believe her community can help make a difference.
“If the intention is to make a stronger community, what a beautiful problem for us to solve together,” she said.