Latest news with #MarylandFoodBank
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Local farmers, food banks plan for potential ‘blow' to food assistance output from Trump cut
The Maryland Food Bank in 2024. (File photo by Danielle J. Brown/Maryland Matters) Jesse Albright, along with his brother and father, has been operating Albright Farms in Baltimore County for decades, producing beef, pork and, more recently, eggs. But Albright is one of dozens of local farmers who may lose significant business opportunities due to a recent decision to end a federal program that helps food pantries buy locally grown produce for low-income households — which he says would 'be a blow' to farmers and the community. 'I think it's great that we can provide local product to our local community,' Albright said. 'It would be a blow to anybody who's been selling through the LFPA program.' He's talking about the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, shortened to LFPA, a Biden-era program that gives food banks extra funding to connect with local farmers and use their produce for meal assistance, as local products can be more expensive. In March, the USDA, under the Trump administration, announced that LFPA program would come to an end in November, withholding millions from Maryland food banks that could affect not only the quality of food provided in meal programs, but also have a financial toll on the dozens of farmers who are part of those agreements. Meanwhile, more Maryland families are looking to meal assistance programs, according to Meg Kimmel, chief operating officer of the Maryland Food Bank. 'At a time when there is historic levels of need that are not dropping, we cannot have our food distribution totals go backwards,' Kimmel said Friday. The Maryland Food Bank serves as a meal assistance hub for a majority of the state, connecting with local food banks and pantries to expand outreach for families needing extra help putting food on the table. The Maryland Food Bank has LFPA agreements with 44 local Maryland farmers, and receives about $4 million through LFPA every 18 months. Without those additional dollars, the Maryland Food Bank will have to 'try to spread our dollars more broadly,' which will likely mean fewer purchases from local growers. Capitol Area Food Bank is Maryland's other food assistance hub, serving Prince George's and Montgomery counties. The Maryland Food Bank covers the rest of the counties and Baltimore. There are 33 local Maryland growers and farmers that work through the LFPA program with the Capitol Area Food Bank, which receives over $5 million from LFPA. In a written statement Friday, Capital Area Food Bank CEO Radha Muthiah, said that 'in Maryland alone, the LFPA has so far enabled CAFB to purchase and distribute more than 3 million meals worth of fresh local food, including items that we typically haven't been able to offer to our clients due to higher costs.' 'The program has also been beneficial for farmers, giving them more certainty that they have a market for the foods they're producing,' Muthiah said in the statement. Albright can attest to that. Albright Farms entered an LFPA agreement with the Maryland Food Bank during the COVID pandemic, providing eggs for the food bank. He said that the partnership with food banks through the LFPA program can help small farms, such as his own, build up production because they're 'growing product with the intent that they're going to sell it to the food bank.' 'They're putting an extra field of cabbage or tomatoes or sweet corn — whatever that product might be. They're putting in additional acres and additional crop specific for the food banks that they're selling to,' he said. 'It's no different with us and the chickens … We started small and as they've asked for more, we've grown our product more.' Kimmel calls the LFPA a 'win-win' for the food bank, families, and the local economy. 'We were able to leverage federal dollars to do things that we haven't been able to do. We haven't been able to buy highly-nutritious local food and pay farmers and producers a fair wage for their work. It was prohibitively expensive for us in the past,' she said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE 'It's an economic stimulus program that has benefited our food system – there is nothing else that I have seen in the many years of being in this work that is remotely close to this,' Kimmel said. If the LFPA program comes to an end on Nov. 30 as currently planned, Kimmel and the food bank will have to make hard decisions on how best to stretch their available funds. She said the first cost-saving action would be to invest in more fresh produce – which would be cheaper than protein, milk and eggs – but their goal is to sustain the number of pounds of food delivered to families. Asking for more donations would be a last resort for them. Kimmel hopes the Trump administration will reconsider, and restore the program or create a new one that would achieve the same goals as the LFPA. 'It's not just about buying food, it's about investing and building in a stronger food system for our tiny little state, which I think is pretty magical,' she said. Albright would also like to see the program continue, but he and his family are already talking about how to adapt if the LFPA agreements fall through. 'I think farmers have learned to be adaptive,' Albright said. 'We try to plan – but I can't plan for Mother Nature, so I think we've learned as a whole, farmers have to become adaptive to the ever-changing environment that we're operating in. 'If we end up in a tight spot, we'll have to figure it out,' he said.
CBS News
04-04-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Maryland Food Bank "devastated" after elimination of $4.4M in food deliveries, federal funding
The Maryland Food Bank says it is facing a $4.425 million funding shortfall after eliminating the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA) and cuts to The Emergency Feeding Program. The LFPA funding, which will run out at the end of November, had provided 5.6 million meals (or 6.6 million pounds of food) to Baltimore City and 21 Maryland counties in 2023-24, according to the organization. According to the organization, the program had increased the food bank's distribution of fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, and seafood by 25 October 2024. "The loss of the LFPA (the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program) is a devastating blow to our food system here in Maryland. This funding cut will reduce access to fresh produce, proteins, dairy, eggs, and seafood for families in need and impact local farmers and food producers who relied on the program," the Maryland Food Bank said. The USDA has also eliminated a portion of The Emergency Feeding Program funding, resulting in the loss of 13 scheduled food deliveries totaling over 460,000 pounds through July. The Maryland Food Bank is one of multiple entities that have been impacted by recent cuts to federal funding by the Trump administration. In total, the USDA canceled $1 billion in funding designated to schools and food banks to buy food directly from local farms, ranchers, and producers. $660 million of that funding was for the Local Food for Schools program, which is active in 40 states. $420 million of that funding belonged to Local Food Purchase Assistance programs. Last week, Maryland education leaders said they were in shock after the federal government rescinded a reimbursement of $360 million that it had previously committed to give to state schools. Johns Hopkins University said it has to "wind down critical work" both in Baltimore and internationally, after the termination of more than $800 million in USAID funding. As a result of these USAID cuts, the university said it is laying off more than 2,000 workers globally . JHU has been one of the top recipients of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for many years. Maryland's economy is particularly vulnerable to these cuts as it received nearly $115 billion in federal contracts, grants, and assistance payments last year—more than $18,500 per resident, the Baltimore Banner reported . The state saw a 24% increase in federal funding over the past five years, making it especially susceptible to the current reductions.
