Tennessee students have less access to locally grown food, and Tennessee farmers lose in multi-million dollar purchases after the USDA cuts two programs funding local food for schools and food banks.

Last week, USDA announced a cut of about $1 billion due to cancellation of its local Food for Schools program and the Local Food Purchase Support (LFPA) Cooperative Agreement program. This cut comes amid the efforts of President Donald Trump’s administration to cut federal budgets.

The decision overturns a December announcement from the USDA We pledge to invest $1.13 billion To continue the programme originally created to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic until 2025.

Approximately $660 million has been scrapped, with the aim of enabling schools and childcare institutions across the country to purchase locally produced food. School Nutrition Association. Another $500 million supported local food purchases at food banks around the country.

The Tennessee Department of Education received more than $4.1 million in 2023 to purchase food from local producers for the school. USDA Records. The Tennessee Department of Agriculture has been awarded $8.2 million to the LFPA program. It was used by five Tennessee Food Banks to purchase food from 247 local producers, of which 142 were classified as underserved producers. USDA defines Inadequate producers Beginners, veterans, socially disadvantaged farmers and farmers with limited resources (incomes of less than 50% of the median poverty line or the area).

When the Tennessee Department of Agriculture missed the deadline to claim $7.2 million for the LFPA program the following year, protests from state lawmakers began to create a “Farm-to-Farm Food Bank” program to open up US rescue plan funds that were not equally available from the annual budget and fill the gap.

Federal funds for the 2025 fiscal year program will no longer be available and the contract will end after a 60-day notice period, the USDA told participating states, territories and tribes.

Tennessee’s Department of Agriculture TDA intended to join LFPA25 but had not yet signed the contract, confirmed department spokesperson Kim Doddridge.

“This is not a sudden shift. Last week, USDA released it to meet existing commitments over the previous mandated 5 billion LFPA and LFS and to support local food purchases ongoing,” a USDA spokesperson wrote in an email to Tennessee Lookout.

Agreements already in place under the LFPA/LFPA Plus program will continue to receive funds until USDA sunsets the program at the end of the performance period. The USDA will instead focus on 16 other nutrition programs.

“The age of symbiosis is over, and USDA’s approach to nutrition programs reflects that reality is moving forward,” the spokesman said.

Brian Blackley, media director for the Tennessee Department of Education, wrote in a statement to Tennessee’s Seal Checkout that the end of the local Food Force School program “does not affect our ability to ensure that Tennessee’s most vulnerable children are fed in schools.”

Doddridge said farmers across the state could be affected by a decline in “current funding available” due to the cancellation of LFPA25. She directed farmers to TDA and USDA websites for resources.

“TDA will work with our partners to help us leverage fundraising opportunities to support our local farmers and communities today and in the future,” Doddridge writes.

The Agriculture Department is seeking an additional $20 million to support farm cost sharing and development programs.

However, while the USDA and the Tennessee Department of Education consider it “extraordinary” support during the Covid-19 pandemic, local farmers, food banks and school nutrition officials say the cuts in funding are strongly felt in both food quality and in the community economy.

Vicki Dunaway, food service supervisor for the Milan School District, said Friday he saw the cut as “going backwards” and that he would see children feed fresh food before returning to less healthy but affordable processed foods.

“I don’t think it’s a pandemic thing,” Dunaway said. “I think it’s just a matter of moving and educating children and communities through proper diet.”

Fund cuts could mean more processed foods in schools

Dunaway used local food to fund the school to help pay for school lunches and summer meals. Last year, the Milan Special School District provided students with over 132,000 lunches during the school year and over 30,800 meals during the summer.

The funding allowed her to partner with local stockyards to deliver minimally processed local beef directly to the district. She contracted with a local farmer to grow broccoli, purple whole peas, tomatoes, corn and melons exclusively for the school.

“Our budgets can’t buy local so it obviously has to be cut out,” she said. “Purchase minimal processed local food is much more expensive than buying from a distributor.”

However, that high price tag has a huge advantage. The food is healthier, local farmers and communities get more support and children can see where their food comes from, Dunaway said. Over the summer, her district sent their children home with recipes and whole foods, including cabbage, melons and fresh corn on the cob.

“We continue to feed our children, but we cannot give them the quality of the food we have given them,” Dunaway said.

According to local producers, the cuts affect the entire community

Jeff Letson owns Hitman Smoke Products, a bacon producer in Clifton, Tennessee. He worked with Mid-South Food Bank last year, and is currently working for the second quarter of the purchase order at Second Harvest Food Bank in Nashville.

Once the LFPA program began, his company processed £500 of bacon every week until £2,500. He went from 10 to 10 with three employees.

The cancellation of the program meant he had to cut his workforce in half. The results are felt by not only farmers, but everyone who has benefited from the program, Letson said.

“It’s a little bit of work, but Clifton, Tennessee is a small community and it’s going to affect us,” he said. “There are five more people looking for work.”

Letson contacted U.S. Sens. Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee about cutting the program.

“I believe in the many efforts of the government’s Ministry of Efficiency. I think we all benefit from it in some way – but you can’t do that with every shotgun approach,” he said. “I hope there are some of these (cuts) that people can contact and say to the senators and the House of Representatives. That’s worth it.”

The Tennessee Agricultural Department acknowledges farmers may be affected by cuts in funding, but the department will continue to work to support local farmers, Doddridge said.

Food Bank Leader says the cut is “devastating news.”

Nancy Keel, CEO of Middle Tennessee’s Second Harvest Food Bank, said in a statement that the cut news was “devastating news for the five Tennessee food banks serving our state.”

Second Harvest continues to implement the “Farm to Food Banks” program funded by Tennessee lawmakers after the state’s LFPA application Bungle last year. However, LFPA25 will provide federal funding to expand the program, allowing Tennessee food banks to continue purchasing fresh produce, protein and dairy products from local farmers, Keil said.

She calls the program a “proven win-win.”

“It supports our food-affected neighbors, maintains local farmers and boosts the Tennessee economy across all 95 counties,” she writes. “Losing this $7.7 million fund to support the program is missing a huge opportunity. It will affect the most important part of our food system – linking food banks with local growers to provide nutritious foods to communities in need.”