Opinion - Federal food aid cuts will cause America's hunger crisis to skyrocket

Yahoo

01-06-2025

The Daily Table, one of the largest food banks in Boston, recently announced it was closing its doors after serving more than 3 million people throughout the city over the past decade.
The organization cited high food prices and an 'uncertain funding environment' as the main reasons. 'Without immediate funding to bridge us through 2025, we cannot continue,' read the group's farewell note to supporters.
Pantries like the Daily Table across the country are struggling to stay open after the U.S. Department of Agriculture quietly cut $1 billion in 2025 funding back in March for food relief programs that have historically supported the nation's most disadvantaged communities.
Specifically, the USDA abruptly slashed the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which supported food banks in addressing the growing hunger crisis in America.
The agency also canceled the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, USDA-led initiatives that paid farmers and ranchers to produce the food that pantries and schools distributed to those in need.
'[Funding] is no longer available and those agreements will be terminated following 60-day notification,' a USDA spokesperson bluntly told Politico when the cuts were discovered.
Food banks depend on federal funding to help those in need. The USDA cuts have hit these organizations hard, stifling their ability to fulfill their missions in West Virginia, New York, California, Maryland, Washington, Oregon and beyond. Three District of Columbia-area food banks have delivered 1.4 million fewer meals since the USDA action, and these numbers are certain to grow.
The need for food banks has never been greater. According to the USDA's own data, over 47 million people resided in food-insecure households in 2023. Demand in Nebraska is four times greater than it was in 2018, while some food pantries in Texas are serving 25 percent more people today than before the pandemic.
And in what may be the most troubling statistic of all, nearly half of the residents in Kentucky and Indiana face an impossible choice of either paying for food or covering their utility bills.
The USDA actions were a potential blow to farmers — a constituency the Trump administration has vowed to protect. They also defy the Trump administration's 'Farmers First' agenda.
'The defense of the family farm is a defense of everything America has been — and everything we will be,' wrote USDA Secretary Brooke L. Rollins in announcing the imperative. 'It is my privilege to come to their defense.'
Canceling these programs is a slap in the face to every farmer who relies on federal support to help vulnerable Americans receive the food they need to survive. These economic initiatives drive local agriculture and are a vital source of revenue, especially for small farm operators.
The USDA cuts deepen the impact for those who already lack access to healthy meals. Before the USDA rollbacks began, nearly 10 million children were at risk of going hungry this summer due to states opting out of the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer program. Eliminating federal support for food banks will make their untenable situation even worse.
And if House Republicans move forward with a plan to decimate the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program in their proposed budget bill, the hunger crisis in America could become a full-blown emergency.
SNAP currently helps 40 million low-income families afford groceries every month. The House bill, if approved, would gut the program by more than $260 billion over the next 10 years to help offset the Trump administration's tax cut proposals.
The House GOP plan puts an added burden on states to make up the difference in SNAP support, many of which are financially strapped and won't be able to cover the funding gap.
The USDA cuts come at a time when food prices are expected to rise 3.5 percent in 2025 alone due to recent tariff increases. They will have a 'significant and damaging impact' for millions who rely on these programs for food support, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and other U.S. senators have argued.
Administration officials and members of Congress alike should heed the warnings from those on the front lines who run food banks and have seen firsthand the impacts the USDA cuts have had on their ability to address food insecurity in their communities.
'We've never before faced a situation like we are in now,' said Michael McKee, CEO of Virginia-based Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. '[The] need is well beyond any disaster or financial crisis that we've seen, and the government's response is to take food away.'
'This isn't about ideology,' he added. 'It's about math.'
Let's have compassion for those with nothing to eat by restoring food programs that offer them nourishment and hope for a better future.
Lyndon Haviland is a distinguished scholar at the CUNY School of Public Health and Health Policy.
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