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Local food purchase and school food programs cut amid budget rewriting, farmers and food banks report cancelled contracts
Summary
Committee debate highlighted abrupt USDA cancellations of two COVID-era programs — Local Food Purchase Assistance and the Local Food for Schools cooperative agreement — and members from both parties described lost contracts, emptied warehouse orders and food banks and farmers suddenly unpaid.
Lawmakers on the House Agriculture Committee pressed USDA on abrupt cancellations of local food programs that had been created or expanded during the pandemic and that funneled federal purchases to local farmers and food banks.
Representatives Riley (NY), Takuda (HI), Thanedar (MI) and others described contracts that had been signed and work that local farmers and food banks had undertaken in reliance on federal purchases. Representative Riley told the committee he had already visited food banks and farmers in upstate New York and urged colleagues to restore the Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) and Local Food for Schools programs that the USDA had canceled. "These programs were delivering fresh, local food to children and food banks and supporting small producers," Riley said; he and other members said producers had had contracts canceled and warehouses left empty within weeks (see transcript excerpts anchored at 13:45:20–14:10:00).
Representative Takuda, who represents Hawaii, warned that remote and island communities are particularly vulnerable to sudden program eliminations and listed dollar impacts for a number of states and institutions; she said LFPA and related emergency food purchases supported land-grant universities and NGOs in 49 states and territories and that cancellations had already terminated hundreds of thousands of pounds of purchased produce in states such as Maine, Pennsylvania, Texas and California.
Why it matters: LFPA and the Local Food for Schools cooperative agreement had been used to channel federal procurement dollars to small and mid-sized farmers while providing fresh produce to schools and food banks. Committee members described lost revenue for producers and gaps in distribution for food programs serving high-need communities.
Discussion vs. decision: Members debated amendments to reinstate the programs’ funding. Representative Riley said he would withdraw an amendment in return for bipartisan negotiations; other members offered amendments to restore both LFPA and Local Food for Schools funding. Votes on several of those amendments were later held or postponed; the committee did not adopt the Democratic amendments on the floor during the late-night session.
Ending: Several members urged working across the aisle to restore the local-purchase programs in this or a future bill, and to insist the USDA complete a review and provide a plan for how to honor contracts that were already signed or to minimize disruptions. Multiple members said they intended to continue pressing the department and the majority to find bipartisan solutions before the bill proceeds in the House.
