The Agriculture Department is killing two Biden administration initiatives that supply local and regionally produced foods to schools, child care facilities and food banks.
The Local Food for Schools and Child Care Cooperative Agreement (LFSCC) and Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA) were created through executive authority rather than being authorized by the farm bill.
In a statement to Agri-Pulse, USDA said it would resume processing claims for payments under either of the initiatives for work done before President Donald Trump took office Jan. 20. Existing agreements also will remain in effect.
“USDA can confirm it has provided notice to States, Territories and Tribes that the FY 2025 funding previously announced for the pandemic-era Local Food for Schools and Child Care Cooperative Agreement (LFSCC) and pandemic-era Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement program (LFPA25) is no longer available and those agreements will be terminated following 60-day notification,” the statement said.
“These programs, created under the former Administration via Executive authority, no longer effectuate the goals of the agency.”
Then-Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that $1.7 billion was being put into the two initiatives last October, using USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation spending authority. The department’s announcement said the programs “help American producers by ensuring they have the certainty of access to local and regional markets as well as the financial benefits that come with selling directly to institutions.”
An official with the School Nutrition Association said the $660 million in LFSCC funding was helping establish local hubs for distributing foods.
Ryan Marquardt, an Iowa farmer who produces chicken, turkey, eggs and beef in the Des Moines area, said the LFPA program made his operation more efficient by enabling more orderly marketing through the year. Products that were harder to sell could be sold through the program.
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“Our profitability has gone way up because we can be way more efficient with our time,” he told Agri-Pulse Monday on the sidelines of the National Farmers Union convention in Oklahoma City.
Even though he has only sold less than $4,000 worth of product a year to the program the efficiency has allowed the business to grow.
“I'm sitting on a ridiculous amount of brisket at the moment. … brisket sales were really soft this year, and so we would probably plan on LFPA-ing that in, like, May,” he said.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey criticized the department’s decision to terminate the programs. Her state lost a $12 million award that was to benefit schools and child care centers.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk have declared that feeding children and supporting local farmers are no longer ‘priorities,’ and it’s just the latest terrible cut with real impact on families across Massachusetts,” she said in a release. “There is nothing ‘appropriate’ about it.”
Noah Wicks contributed to this report.
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