PA is losing $13 million from one of their most vital programs supporting local farmers and food banks. The state calls the cuts “unlawful.”
By Justin Heinze, Patch Staff
PENNSYLVANIA — Pennsylvania is seeking to reverse the recent federal funding cuts and pauses by the Trump administration, calling the program which would place severe pressure on already-strained food banks “unlawful.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration already filed an appeal Thursday to reverse the cuts and ensure the USDA maintains its contracts with the state.
“Crops are not planted overnight, and neither are food bank budgets,” Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding said in a statement “Supplier and buyer contracts are sealed months in advance. Whether you’re a farm or a food bank, you plan your operations based on what you have to spend.”
The USDA is dismantling a pair of pandemic-era programs that provided more than $1 billion to local food banks under the The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA). At the same time, they also canceled the Local Foods for Schools program.
Pennsylvania’s $13 million contract for the LFPA program is completely eliminated under the new cuts.
“Losing operating dollars means losing crops and losing customers,” Redding added. “Cancelled federal funding hurts Pennsylvania farmers, along with food bank customers — hungry families, children, military veterans, and seniors.”
State leadership said Pennsylvania is hit harder by these cuts than many other states because agriculture is its top industry, and because the Keystone State one of the few states in the nation that relies exclusively upon the LFPA program to support in-state farmers. They say the program ensures federal grants stay within Pennsylvania.
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