
File-one student lunch in a school cafeteria. (Photo by Tim Boyle / Getty Images)
The United States Department of Agriculture has reduced more than a billion dollars in funding to help schools and food banks to buy from local farmers.
States were informed that the USDA had reduced the financing of the local food cooperation agreement program for schools for 2025, according to a press release from the School nutrition associationA non -profit professional organization representing 50,000 professionals in school nutrition across the country.
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Statement of USDA versions
What they say:
Fox Television Stations obtained a declaration from a USDA spokesperson on the issue.
“As a program of the era of the pandemic era, the program of cooperatives for assistance for local food purchase (LFPA) will now be lying at the end of the performance period, marking a return to long -term and responsible initiatives.
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“With 16 robust nutritional programs in place, the USDA remains focused on its basic mission: strengthening food security, supporting agricultural markets and ensuring access to nutritious foods. Unlike the Biden administra
tion, which has channel billions of CCC funds in short -term programs without possibility of impact. Reflect this reality in the future.”
Why the USDA Cutting School, Food Banks Funding?
Dig more deeply:
This decision is part of the reductions in several federal programs to minimize government waste led by President Donald Trump and the Government Department (DOGE). The American programs of the Department of Agriculture were financed through its Credit Corporation, a fund of the depression era created to buy products from farmers.
What does that mean for schools?
Local perspective:
With the financing reductions of local schools and food bank programs of more than a billion dollars, the association of school nutrition noted that around 660 million dollars of these funds were allocated to schools to make local food purchases this year and 420 million dollars for a second program known as cooperative assistance local assistance, which provides assistance to food and other local groups their areas.
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Last year, the USDA announced an investment of more than a billion dollars for school food programs, with $ 471.5 million allocated to states to buy local food to provide schools participating in free or reduced meal programs, and $ 188.6 million for childcare centers involved in the Child and Adut Care food program.
The source: Information for this story has been provided by a USDA declaration, the School Nutrition Association, USA Today, CBS News and Reuters. This story was reported in Washington, DC