Local food banks suffering from cancellation of government funding

Local food banks are feeling the effects of the abrupt cancellation of government funding for programs that help them feed and distribute food to those in need. In early March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it was cutting more than $1 billion in funding for the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement programs for 2025.

The money was designed to pay farmers to provide food to schools and food banks. Then, food banks were hit with another blow when they were informed that scheduled deliveries of food through the USDA’s Emergency Food Assistance Program were being halted or cut back.

What does this mean for local food banks who are seeing an increase in demand for their services. The Arizona Food Bank Network is a is a coalition of 5 regional food banks and nearly 1,000 food pantries and agencies, working together to address hunger in Arizona. Each month this network helps feed more than 550,000 food insecure people in all 15 counties in Arizona.

April Bradham, CEO of the Arizona Food Bank Network joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss.

“There was cancellations of some food that goes through the emergency food assistance program and that is a program that is funded through the farm bill and provides food from U.S. growers to food banks to give to those in need,” Bradham said.

The cancellations affected truck loads of food that are in addition to the core program called “bonus loads” however, the core program is still moving steadily and was not affected by the cancellations, according to Bradham. She said the truck loads impacted food banks around Arizona because they are “stretched very thin” and are experience high demands of need around the state.

“Food banks in the state of Arizona right now are seeing about 650,000 Arizonans a month that is coming to get food, that is up substantially,” Bradham said.