The U.S. Department of Agriculture is cutting two federal programs that provide over $1 billion annually to support schools and food banks in purchasing local food.
Advocates working to end hunger in Oregon say these cuts will harm small farmers, schoolchildren and some of the state’s most vulnerable residents.
Sarah Weber Ogden, executive director of Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon, said both programs are very popular.
With one in six Oregon children facing food insecurity combined with rising food prices, she said these cuts could not come at a worse time.
“These programs feed hungry folks in our communities,” said Ogden. “They support local growers and producers. And so this decision represents cruelty from my perspective.”
Oregon Food Bank says it was expecting to receive about 90 truck loads of food this year from the U.S.D.A. through the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, but the orders have been canceled.
The organization reported a record number of visits last year, nearly a third more than the previous year.
Oregon’s local food producers were expecting more than $12 million in federal funding over the next three years through the Local Food for Schools Program.
Patrick Roelle fishes out of Winchester Bay, Ore., and supplies tuna to six school districts across the state.
He said when he sells his fish locally — rather than shipping it overseas — Oregon processors, packers and shippers benefit as well.
“And then the ultimate value,” said Roelle, “is when the students get the chance to eat the finest quality products the planet has to offer.”
Roelle said he is hopeful the Trump administration, which says the cuts are part of making the U.S.D.A. more efficient, will decide to reinstate the program.
Ogden said Partners for a Hunger Free Oregon and others have asked the state to help fill in the gaps from the lost federal funding, but it is not clear yet what is available.
Isobel Charle, Oregon News Service
