SALT LAKE CITY — In early March, the United States Department of Agriculture announced that it would make $1 billion in cuts, including funding that supports local food entities.
“The challenge that we face as an organization is the unknown,” says Ginette Bott, CEO of the Utah Food Bank. “We don’t know timelines, we don’t know dollar amounts, we don’t know programs for sure. It’s hard to plan when you think it’s coming, but you’re not quite sure.”
This sentiment echoed throughout the country as farmers and food pantries alike brace for the possibility of doing more with less. “We are contemplating higher need, more recipients, a lot of first-time people coming in who never had to before,” says Bott. “It’s our responsibility, and we’re doing it right now, preparing strategically.”
A true sign of the times as more families have made pantries a part of their lives.
The funding on the chopping block is for the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement programs for 2025. The money was supposed to pay farmers to provide fresh food to schools and food banks.
“We don’t know ultimately what the impacts are going to be,” says Gina Cornia, the executive director of Utahns Against Hunger (UAH). “What we do know is that they’re going to be bad because they are cutting programs that are really essential for people to have access to fresh, affordable food.”
Cornia mentions Congress’ latest reconciliation bill that recommends a whopping $230 billion be deducted from the agricultural budget, which UAH has heard will largely come from the Food Stamp Program.
That would be another hit for families trying to put food on the table. “Our concern is there are lots of other programs across the state who are helping people with food,” says Bott. “If those programs are cut or impacted, where are those people going to turn for assistance or food? They’re going to come directly back to our pantries across the state.”
Bott says so far there’s no impact to the deliveries the food bank receives from the USDA. Last year, the Utah Food Bank distributed 54.6 million meals through a statewide network of 270 partner agencies located in Utah’s 29 counties. Partnerships might have to work even harder to provide their services.
FOX 13 News asked UAH, 'Is there a way to fill any gaps in product that might be left if there are big cuts.'
“Well, that’s a really good question. Like I said, we’re not really sure what the impacts of these (cuts) are, obviously those farm contracts that have been canceled or postponed or suspended that would be produce and that would be meat that people would get later on in the year,” says Cornia. “I don’t know what those organizations are doing to scramble, but it will be a scramble.”
