Most food banks rely on a combination of federal or state dollars, private donations, and partnerships with businesses that donate remaining food. While cancellations have been devastating for all food banks, representatives said those receiving state funding and those with strong community support have overcome cuts more than others.
The central Louisiana food bank, which comes from Cornwell and Green groceries, gets more than half of its food from the federal government and receives little state support. According to US Census data, it serves rural Louisiana, which has the highest poverty rates in the country.
The Trump administration has cancelled 10 food bank orders totaling over $400,000 in pork, chicken, cheese, dried cranberries, dried plums, milk and eggs, records show. Food banks are struggling to keep up with demand following reduced cuts and declining private donations. Staff told Propublica they had been handing out a 25-pound food package, but some had reduced their weight to about half of their weight over the summer.
A longtime director of the Food Bank in Central Louisiana told Propobrica that the organization’s warehouses are more empty than usual.
“We’re not keeping people apart without food. That’s not at that point,” said Jain Wright Biles, who has been the executive director of Food Bank for 30 years. “But when people come to us, they have less food.”
The organization has tried to fill the gap with donations of produce, but transporting and distributing fruits and vegetables has been challenging, and several users told Propublica that it got worse once the produce received it.
On a recent morning, 23-year-old Cody Dufren came to collect food for his grandfather and his neighbors. He is 45 minutes from the nearest grocery store.
Codie Dufrene has melons received from the Food Bank in Central Louisiana.
Usually, Dufren’s car trunks fill up. Not recently.
Dufren received his first chicken “before summer.” However, poultry came from a donation that barely compensated for the 74,000 pounds of chicken that did not arrive in June.
She said her family was grateful and would use whatever they got, but the quality of the food could be discouraged. Dufren pointed out the condition of the melon she received. “You can say – they’re frozen, they’re already super, super soft.” She said her mother probably gave her pigs, “Because people can’t really eat them.”
Wright Veres said that while Food Bank trains staff on food safety and does its best to check everything before going out, it’s difficult to do it on a large scale. “Things get worse so quickly, especially in the summer heat,” she said. “As soon as you receive a donation, the clock is ticking through the tranquils.”
Jane Wright Velez, Executive Director of Food Bank, Central Louisiana
The Emergency Food Aid Program was created in 1983 to purchase surplus food from farmers and distribute it to low-income people. The program’s budget is usually approved every five years as part of the farm bill, but in 2018, the first Trump administration added funds to support farmers struggling under the retaliatory tariffs facing the US amid trade disputes. Additional discretionary federal funds have helped food banks serve more people. Last fiscal year they got almost twice as much money as they did from their parliamentary allocation.
The second Trump administration has now cut the $500 million already allocated as additional funds as a “Biden-era slash fund.” The government still distributes food through other parts of the program, but the food bank was caught off guard by cancelled delivery. Food bank managers, some managers with decades of experience, could not recall such confusion. With the farm bill scheduled to be updated this fall, officials operating Food Banks are worried that additional cuts will have to reduce the number of people they serve.
Shannon Oliver, operations director at Oregon Food Bank, is already needed more than what Food Banks has.
“We need to be clear by setting expectations that we are doing everything we can, in preparation for the fact that we don’t have enough food,” she said.
The USDA did not respond to questions or requests for comment. In a letter in May in response to senators’ concerns about funding cuts, the agency said it had made additional food purchases through a separate program, saying the emergency food program continues to operate “originally intended by Congress.”
“While the pandemic is over, the USDA has not focused on its core mission to strengthen food security, support the agricultural market and ensure access to nutritious foods.
