The Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore says it’s struggling to make up for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recent decision to end two programs that previously paid out more than $1 billion annually nationwide for schools and food banks to purchase meat and produce from local farmers.

A USDA spokesperson confirmed to the Times that the agency is ending its Local Food Purchase Assistance, or LFPA, program, which as of Dec. 9 was budgeted to distribute over $421 million through state and tribal partnerships to food banks this year.

A similar USDA program that provides federal funding for schools to purchase minimally processed food, known as Local Food for Schools, or LFS, is also slated to end this year, according to the School Nutrition Association, a nonprofit representing 50,000 school nutrition professionals nationwide. School meals must include fruits, vegetables, milk, lean proteins and whole grains per federal nutrition standards.

Both programs require that foods be sourced no more than 400 miles from their delivery destination.

The SNA, in a March 10 news release, said an estimated $660 million in LFS funds for 2025 will no longer be available. According to Politico, which first reported the cuts, state officials were notified on March 7 of the USDA’s decision. 

 

What’s at stake locally?

Virginia was awarded $13.5 million from LFS in past years, according to USDA data. The Virginia Department of Education has its own buy-local incentive program called Farm to School, which focuses on procurement, education and school gardens. According to the program’s 2021-26 strategic plan, it is partially funded by the USDA, but not necessarily LFS. The Virginia Department of Education piloted a partnership in 2022 with regional food hubs to deliver $2.2 million worth of locally-produced food to schools, according to a news release from that year, funded with a USDA Supply Chain Assistance Grant.

Isle of Wight and Surry county’s school divisions say they aren’t affected by the end of LFS. Lynn Briggs, a spokeswoman for Isle of Wight County Schools, said the division doesn’t participate in LFS. Neither does Surry, according to Superintendent Dr. Herb Monroe.

The Foodbank can’t say the same for LFPA. 

A 2022 news release announcing the initial USDA partnership with Virginia had estimated the first of two rounds of funding funding totaling $13.5 million would purchase food from 166 local farmers and distribute it to 164 people per month.

Virginia was budgeted as of Dec. 9 to receive an additional $7.6 million for fiscal year 2025.

“For us, that’s equivalent to a $300,000 cut in our budget,” said Foodbank President and CEO Chris Tan.

In other terms, that’s 6,000 fewer servings of produce and 2,500 fewer servings of protein per month, Tan said. That impact will be spread across the 11 cities and counties the Foodbank serves.

The Foodbank’s website states it distributed over 24 million pounds of food last year across Isle of Wight, Southampton, Sussex, Northampton and Accomack counties and the cities of Suffolk, Franklin, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Norfolk and Virginia Beach, where over 132,000 people are estimated to be food insecure.

“We’re in our budget cycle coming up in the next month or two,” Tan said. “… Hopefully the generosity of the community will help. It’s a pretty big gap though, so it’s going to be a challenge for sure.”

The cut may also impact operations at the Isle of Wight Christian Outreach Program that partners with the Foodbank.

“In December of 2024 the national program was funded at $1.13 billion,” said Rick Rowlands, Christian Outreach’s executive director. “Locally, the Foodbank uses their allocation to provide produce and other nutritional items to rural areas serviced through mobile pantries. The Christian Outreach Program may see a reduction in some types of food as the mobile pantries require an increase of foods purchased with other funding sources are used to close the gap  created by the LFPA changes.”

The cuts may or may not impact the 17,000-square-foot facility the Foodbank opened in Franklin in 2022 that provides a grocery store-like experience three times per week by appointment where everything on display is free. It also serves as a hub for the Western Tidewater region.

Tan said the Foodbank is separately anticipating a loss of $1.5 million in congressionally directed funding U.S. Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., had previously earmarked for a new warehouse and administrative facility on 24 acres in Virginia Beach. The Foodbank, which last year increased produce and lean protein distribution by 50%, is outgrowing its current headquarters in Norfolk, Tan said.

 

National reactions

“These funds are critical for school meal programs right now; just like families going to the grocery stores, schools have seen a dramatic increase in costs,” Diane Pratt-Heavner, an SNA spokeswoman, told the Times.

LFPA was funded by the federal Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act of 2012 and the American Rescue Plan Act, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 pandemic relief package Congress passed in 2021.

“As a pandemic-era program, LFPA will now be sunsetted at the end of the performance period, marking a return to long-term, fiscally responsible initiatives,” the USDA said in its statement to the Times.

The agency contends this “isn’t an abrupt shift,” and said it had recently released over $500 million in “previously obligated funds for LFPA and LFS to fulfill existing commitments and support ongoing local food purchases.” 

“The COVID era is over — USDA’s approach to nutrition programs will reflect that reality moving forward,” the agency stated, blaming former President Joe Biden’s administration for “short-term programs with no plan for longevity.”

The cuts come amid efforts by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to reduce federal spending. U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., in a March 11 tweet on X, formerly Twitter, called the elimination of the two programs “heartless.”

“Cutting food aid hurts kids, farmers and struggling folks. Why is Trump doing it? To help pay for his tax cuts to the rich,” Kaine said.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 12:28 p.m. on March 17 to add comments by Rick Rowlands, executive director of the Isle of Wight Christian Outreach Program.