Local food banks are feeling the effects of the abrupt cancellation of government funding for programs that help them feed and distribute food to those in need. In early March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it was cutting more than $1 billion in funding for the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement programs for 2025.
The money was designed to pay farmers to provide food to schools and food banks. Then, food banks were hit with another blow when they were informed that scheduled deliveries of food through the USDA’s Emergency Food Assistance Program were being halted or cut back.
What does this mean for local food banks who are seeing an increase in demand for their services. The Arizona Food Bank Network is a is a coalition of 5 regional food banks and nearly 1,000 food pantries and agencies, working together to address hunger in Arizona. Each month this network helps feed more than 550,000 food insecure people in all 15 counties in Arizona…