More than $10 million in federal funding that would have purchased fresh produce from local farmers to be used in Kansas schools and food banks, has been eliminated, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is ending two programs that provided more than $1 billion nationwide for schools and food banks to purchase fresh food grown by local farmers and producers.
About $660 million of that went to schools and childcare centers to buy food for meals through the Local Foods for Schools program. A separate program provided money to food banks.
“President Trump’s decision to defund the Local Food Purchase Assistance program pulls the rug out from Kansas farmers who have already invested in their crops with the expectation that their products would be purchased at the end of the season,” Gov. Laura Kelly said in a statement.
“This thoughtless decision harms our agricultural industry, threatens the Kansas economy, and will adversely affect Kansans who rely on fresh, local foods. Our farmers and communities do not need this uncertainty.”
THROUGH THE Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, USDA awarded funds to states to help buy local food to be distributed to educational institutions.
Kansas State Department of Education spokesperson Denise Kahler says the agency was notified by USDA of the cut on March 7.
“The Kansas State Department of Education was to have received a total of $7,982,630 for the LFSCC allocation,” noted Kahler.
Broken down, these funds would have been allocated as follows:
• School Nutrition Program: $5,773,573
• Child and Adult Care Food Program: $2,209,057
The funds would have been available over the course of three years.
At the time of the agreement termination, Kansas had not received any LFSCC funds nor allocated funds to any child nutrition program operators.
“These funds represented 100% allocation for Kansas products,” stated Kahler. “There would not have been any overhead, administrative costs, or any miscellaneous costs. These are true dollars that would have benefited Kansas producers and provided access to high quality meals to Kansas children.”
Kahler added these funds were in addition to the standard meal reimbursement that schools and child care providers receive.
Locally, the effects of the cuts still remain uncertain.
“I really don’t have any information yet on food service,” said USD 257 Superintendent Stacey Fager. “We don’t do a farm-to-table program with local producers.” Fager noted that the district is “still waiting to see” how proposed cuts will trickle down to states and programs.
