U.S. food bank system is in distress: 'The urgency of this crisis cannot be overstated'

The Food Bank of Northern Nevada delivers fresh food to seniors,
including those in rural communities. (KFF Health photo)

Slapped with funding cuts and spiking demand, food banks are limping forward without a clear idea of how to fill the gaping hole federal resources used to fill. The financial cuts are especially hard on rural food banks that may lack access to food donations from multiple businesses and grocery stores.

"Food bank managers across the country say their supplies have been strained by rising demand since the Covid pandemic-era emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits ended two years ago and steepening food prices," reports Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez of KFF Health News. "Now, they say, demand is compounded by recent cuts in federal funding to food distribution programs that supply staple food items to pantries nationwide."

The deep cuts began in March when the Department of Agriculture lopped off $500 million from the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which purchases food from U.S. farmers and distributes it to food banks across the country. Rodriguez writes, "The program has supplied more than 20% of the distributions by Feeding America, a nonprofit that serves a network of over 200 food banks and 60,000 meal programs."

Additional demand paired with waning resources "is especially problematic for rural communities, where the federal program might cover 50% or more of food supplied to those in need, said Vince Hall, chief government relations officer of Feeding America," Rodriguez explains. The EFAP was a lifeline for rural residents facing food insecurity, but that safety net is gone. Hall told Rodriguez, “The urgency of this crisis cannot be overstated."

Local food banks are also grappling with a second $500 million cut from the USDA Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which aimed to help governments and schools purchase fresh food and produce from local growers.

Reductions to SNAP benefits, such as those currently being considered by lawmakers, could mean some Americans will go hungry. "A proposed budget resolution passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in April would require $1.7 trillion in net funding cuts, and anti-hunger advocates fear SNAP could be a target," Rodriguez reports. "More people living in rural parts of the country rely on SNAP than people in urban areas because of higher poverty rates, so they would be disproportionately affected."