USDA cuts programs aimed at bringing local food to schools, food banks

Good Shepherd Food Bank President Heather Paquette at their Auburn facility on Wednesday. The group, which distributes about 40 million meals a year, has experienced double-digit increases in need over the past two years. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

The U.S. Department of Agriculture canceled contracts with Maine — and most other states — that provided financial assistance, distributed fresh food and incentivized the purchase of locally grown food.

The change comes as one in eight Mainers — about 180,000 people — faces hunger, according to data collected by the national nonprofit Feeding America. That includes roughly 45,000 children, about 20% of the state’s total population under 18.

In October, the USDA announced it was extending its Local Foods for Schools program, which reimbursed schools in Maine and throughout the country for purchasing local food, for another year, said Maine Department of Education spokesperson Chloe Teboe. More than 40 states participated in the program during its first — and now only — year, she said.

“However, on Friday, March 7, 2025, the Maine Department of Education (DOE) received a termination notice for that agreement,” Teboe wrote in an email Wednesday afternoon.

Maine schools were supposed to get another $2.78 million this spring for use over the next three years, Teboe said.

The school food program included $776,210 for Maine, which funded more than $120,000 in purchases from historically “underserved producers,” a designation that includes farmers and ranchers who are just starting out, veterans, and those who are socially disadvantaged or who have limited resources, according to data collected by the USDA.

In addition to the Local Food for Schools agreement, the USDA also terminated its Local Food Purchase Assistance program, which provided funding to states, including Maine, to purchase local food to serve feeding programs, food banks and other organizations that aid underserved populations.

That program funded more than $1.4 million in purchases from 75 different producers, 74 of which were considered “underserved,” according to USDA data.

A USDA spokesperson said that the cancellation “isn’t an abrupt shift,” stating that the department released more than $500 million in previously obligated funds last week. They criticized the Biden administration for prioritizing “short-term programs with no plan for longevity.”

“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 spokesperson said in an email Wednesday. “The COVID era is over — USDA’s approach to nutrition programs will reflect that reality moving forward.”

Auburn-based Good Shepherd Food Bank said the cuts would create major hurdles for the group. The canceled funding extension would have meant another $1.25 million for Maine over three years, the food bank said.

“This change represents a projected loss of 500,000 to 600,000 pounds of fresh, local produce Good Shepherd Food Bank would have distributed, through its partners, to families facing food insecurity,” the group said.

That could mean the loss of a half-million meals, based on standards set by Feeding America. The national organization considers 1.2 pounds roughly the weight of a “meal.”

Good Shepherd President Heather Paquette doesn’t expect the food bank will be able to fill that funding gap this year. Good Shepherd, which distributes about 40 million meals per year, is the state’s only Feeding America-affiliated food bank, she said on a phone call Wednesday night.

She said the group will also face cuts of at least 50% of the total food it distributes through another USDA program called The Emergency Food Assistance Program, which provides cases of American-grown food to participating states. Good Shepherd currently distributes approximately 500,000 pounds of food through that program each month, she said. That’s about a fifth of all the food it distributes.

“It’s a huge piece of the work that we do,” she said. “Our TEFAP has been cut by a minimum of 50%, with a lot of uncertainty beyond that.”

The food bank sees usually sees statewide need increase by at least 10% each year, Paquette said. And while Maine has a robust network of nonprofits, businesses and state agencies that work together to fight hunger, planning for the future becomes extremely difficult when funding that should have been guaranteed falls through, she said.

“Our donations are healthy, (but) we cannot expect them to keep pace” with need, Paquette said. “All indications from our partner agencies is that we should be expecting another significant increase (in need).”

SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES EXPECTED

Anna Korsen, program director at Full Plates Full Potential, said the cuts to Local Food for Schools will bring significant challenges to Maine schools and students and families who rely on school lunches.

“It was this really great program, and it really worked. We saw schools purchasing more local food than we had ever seen in the past,” she said.

In the 2022-23 school year, prior to the federal program’s launch, Maine schools spent only about $128,000 on local food, Korsen said. But that figure more than quadrupled the following year.

School food budgets are already tight — usually around $4 per child, she said — making it difficult for districts to purchase high-quality ingredients and develop nourishing meals.

“They’re kind of forced to buy the cheapest food sometimes. So having an incentive program … that just allows them to buy this higher-quality food, which they want to do,” Korsen said.

She said the cancellation of what seemed to be a settled contract was particularly troubling.

“That’s concerning. How was that able to happen?” Korsen said. “It feels like the rug is being pulled out from under our schools.”

This funding changes are separate from the temporary pause the USDA announced this week on funding to the University of Maine System.

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