The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last week it was cutting two programs that provide a total of $1 billion in funding nationwide to address food insecurity.
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Cuts to two federal programs that allowed schools and food banks to buy food from local farmers and producers will have a “devastating” impact in Bucks County, according to county officials.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last week it was cutting the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement and the Local Food for Schools. The programs provided a total of $1 billion in funding nationwide to address food insecurity.
“That’s $800,000 less that our nonprofits will have to work with to help people who have trouble putting food on the table for their families,” said Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie at Wednesday’s commissioner meeting. He was referencing the amount from the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program that Bucks County Opportunity Council spent in the past three years on alleviating food insecurity.
The Warminster Food Bank is one of the 75 food pantries that make up BCOC’s network. Executive Director Mike Cerino said his organization hasn’t seen the impact yet, but he expects “it’s going to hit the supply chain pretty soon.”
“We’ve already seen critical elements like eggs and butter come off the supply chain that we were getting from our contacts at the larger food distribution centers like Philabundance,” Cerino said. “That’s going to be a devastating impact for us, because then we have to turn around and buy those eggs at retail.”
Cerino said the end to this particular program could look like a 10 to 15% reduction in the size of the monthly food baskets the organization provides to its clients.