BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas (KRHD) — Funding has been cut for two federal food programs as part of the effort to decrease federal spending and reduce government waste.
- The USDA recently cut two federal programs providing money for schools and food banks to buy local food from farms, ranchers and producers.
- Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Local Food For Schools program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement distributed about $1 billion dollars worth of goods, but that funding source has been officially shut off.
- 15ABC spoke with a local farmer about the impact this will have on the Brazos Valley.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
15ABC asked Jeremy Peaches what his reaction was after hearing the federal food programs had been cut.
"The first thing I thought about was really the people, because most of the food that goes through the food banks, if not all of it, goes to churches, homes, people who really need the produce as well."
The USDA recently cut two federal programs providing money for schools and food banks to buy local food from farms, ranchers and producers.
"I know people are resourceful, so I hope that they can figure something out to get them the food that they need, but I'm not sure how they're going to react," College Station resident, Kunal Jain said.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Local Food For Schools program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement distributed about $1 billion dollars worth of goods, but that funding source has been officially shut off.
"I mean, a billion dollars is a lot of money, so, thinking about how much it's going to affect different school districts and food banks, it's obviously not very good," College Station resident, Aditya Nambi said.
These budget cuts will not only make it harder for schools to provide healthier foods.
"For those food costs to be cut through this program from people having the opportunity to get fresh food and produce from the food banks, it really leaves us wondering like, 'hey, you know, where are we going?," Peaches said.
But it also puts a strain on local farmers, like Jeremy Peaches.
"It kind of puts the farmer in a position to where they got to make alternative measures and again, it's just taking more food off, you know, people's plate," he said.
Peaches tells 15ABC this is an unexpected setback, but he believes local farmers will get through this with the support from our neighbors.
"I really just want to encourage everybody just to stay fresh, stay local and let's build some more initiatives in Texas and a lot of our counties to continue to keep our farms going."