Programs that help bring fresh and locally grown food to food banks and schools are losing over a billion dollars.
Programs that help bring fresh and locally grown food to food banks and schools are losing over a billion dollars.
The USDA cuts are part of the Trump administration's effort to decrease how much money the federal government spends.
The program is called the Local Food Purchase Assistance, or LFPA. It launched in Connecticut in 2022 and invests in farmers, connecting them to food banks and schools.
Connecticut Foodshare said they're expecting to lose around $1 million of funding this year from this program alone, which means people who rely on food banks will have less produce this summer unless something changes.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
“It's kind of frightening. It puts us in a position where we can't get the necessities that we need,” Patricia Adams, of Hartford, said.
Adams said as a senior on limited income, she relies on getting fresh produce from food banks.
With federal funding cuts expected to trickle down to food bank users in the coming months, she said she's going to have to find alternatives to get fresh produce.
Local
“Get our produce, maybe from the supermarkets, do some canning, which I like to can, you know, freeze our stuff and kind of, like, prepare for the domino effect to take place," Adams said.
“It’s something that's definitely going to hurt us as a food bank. And it's going to hurt the farmers,” Jason Jakubowski, of Connecticut Foodshare, said.
Jakubowski said the past two rounds of LFPA funding invested nearly $3 million in farmers to distribute more than one million meals.
In the last year, he said they've seen a 23% increase in the amount of people coming in and relying on their services.
“We're actually seeing about as many people in our lines right now as we were during the peak of the pandemic. The cost of food is, is higher inflation in general is higher,” Jakubowski said.
Jakubowski said people should still be confident that food banks will continue to do what they can for their users, fresh food included. He said people can expect the ripple effects of this program can impact food banks by the end of the summer.
Connecticut Foodshare is calling on the state legislature to pass a bill that would provide in-state funding to accomplish the same goal without the help of the federal government, bringing farm fresh food to food banks and schools.
“We deeply appreciate the commitment and hard work from all of our LFPA and LFPA+ partners and will continue executing those programs through their respective end dates. Together, we have provided local, nutritious foods sourced from local farmers and producers to support the communities of Connecticut," said Agriculture Commissioner Bryan P. Hurlburt.
We have reached out to Governor Lamont’s office, but haven't yet heard back.
