Pennsylvania lawmakers hear strategies to cut food waste and shore up food security

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Lawmakers, state agency officials and nonprofit and private-sector partners told the House Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee on Oct. 12 that improving coordination, logistics and funding is needed to reduce food waste while increasing access to nutritious food in every county of Pennsylvania.

Committee members convened the informational meeting at the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market to hear testimony from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the Department of Human Services, Feeding Pennsylvania and a range of food banks, retailers and food-rescue organizations about current programs and gaps in the system.

The meeting opened with comments from Representative Eddie Day Peshinsky, chair of the House Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee, who praised the industry tour at the market and called attention to the scale of avoidable waste in the state. Peshinsky said the presenters would explain how government, nonprofits and private businesses can “work to reduce that amount of food waste and the food insecurity and strengthen Pennsylvania food system.”

Deputy Secretary Cheryl Cook of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture described food security as four questions — availability, affordability, safety and nutrition — and warned that abundant supply in Pennsylvania still coexists with large waste. “We live here in a place where there is so much food. It is so abundant that that much of it is wasted,” Cook said.

Officials and nonprofit leaders outlined several existing and proposed tools to address those problems. A senior official from the Department of Human Services’ Office of Income Maintenance described Summer EBT (known in testimony as “Sunbucks”), the federal program established by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. The official said Pennsylvania opted in for 2024 and provided “over 1,200,000 children with a $120 benefit,” and that states receive 100% federal funding for the program.

The DHS official also emphasized the scale of SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), noting that Pennsylvania’s SNAP administration distributes roughly $360,000,000 in benefits per month, serves about 2.1 million people statewide and supports roughly 10,000 participating retailers. The official said outreach partners help with enrollment and that Pennsylvania is investing state and private funds to expand SNAP outreach across counties that currently lack service coverage.

Karen Long Earl, director of the Bureau of Food Assistance at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, described programs that connect surplus agricultural products to emergency food providers: the State Food Purchase Program (SFPP) and the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System (PAS). Earl said PAS, begun in 2015 and administered with assistance from Feeding Pennsylvania, has sourced more than 35 million pounds of Pennsylvania-grown food for distribution to people in need and that Governor Josh Shapiro’s budget proposes a $4 million increase for each of SFPP and PAS.

Feeding Pennsylvania and regional partners described how the state funding complements a broad charitable infrastructure. Julie Bancroft, chief executive officer of Feeding Pennsylvania, said the statewide food-bank network rescues and distributes more than 231 million pounds of food annually and that additional state funds both reduce food waste and increase the availability of nutrient-dense, locally sourced produce for food-insecure families.

Panelists from the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market (PWPM), the Mid Atlantic Regional Cooperative (MARC), Philabundance and other food banks described operational models that redirect surplus fresh produce. Mark Smith, CEO of PWPM, recounted the market’s public–private construction and said the market and partners now donate and redirect millions of pounds: PWPM’s partnerships and operations, he said, have helped donate “over 10,000,000 pounds of produce per year.” John Shortino, director of operations at MARC, said the cooperative distributes more than 1,000,000 pounds of fresh produce weekly to member food banks and can aggregate mixed-case loads to reduce waste and better match food-bank demand.

Smaller food-rescue groups described how targeted incentives increase donations. Evan Ehlers, founder of Sharing Access, said programs that supply tax credits to donors — explicitly the Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP) tax credit used in the market pilot described at the hearing — provide a measurable financial reason for wholesalers and retailers to prioritize donation over disposal. “That tax credit provides the engine that allows us to be able to redistribute that produce,” Ehlers said, noting his program has helped redistribute millions of pounds of produce from the wholesale market.

Panelists emphasized two other infrastructure gaps: (1) the need for more refrigerated transport and short-haul logistics to move fresh food from donors to recipients, particularly in rural ZIP codes, and (2) more local composting or anaerobic-digestion capacity so non-donatable organic material can be processed near its source. Several witnesses described existing digesters (including a facility in Trenton, N.J.) but urged state or federal capital support to expand capacity inside Pennsylvania to reduce transportation and tipping costs.

Speakers also flagged federal policy risks. Several presenters warned that proposed federal cuts to SNAP, child nutrition programs and farm-related accounts — including changes discussed in congressional committee drafts — could reduce the amount of USDA-provided food and federal funding that support both families and the charitable food network. DHS staffers and nonprofit leaders quantified possible local economic effects of SNAP changes, saying tighter SNAP rules or cutbacks would reduce consumer demand that supports Pennsylvania farmers, retailers and grocery-sector jobs.

Committee members asked presenters to provide requested data and to prioritize needs for legislators. Representative Emily Kinkaid and others asked for more detailed county and district-level SNAP and food-bank data; the DHS official said a new data dashboard with SNAP figures by county and legislative district is available on dhs.pa.gov/data and that the department would supply testimony documents to the committee.

Why it matters: Panelists repeatedly tied three policy aims together — reduce avoidable food waste, expand nutritious food access, and support Pennsylvania agriculture — arguing that coordinated state investments and incentives can serve all three goals. Witnesses urged continuing or growing state funding for PAS and SFPP, expanded logistics support for rural areas, persistent outreach to increase SNAP enrollment and targeted capital support for on-site composting or digesters.

What’s next: Committee members asked agencies and nonprofits to prioritize requested assistance and to return with more detailed proposals. Several witnesses volunteered data and program documents; the committee’s leaders said staff will follow up with presenters and that staff would circulate written testimony to members.

The meeting included extended testimony and audience questions but did not record any formal legislative votes or committee actions on bills.