A nonprofit says that the Department of Agriculture has cut more than $1 billion in funding for schools and food banks to help them buy from local farmers. In a statement released on Tuesday, the non-profit School Nutrition Association stated that “multiple states” were recently informed of these reductions.

The group's president, Shannon Gleave, stated, "With research showing school meals are the healthiest meals Americans eat, Congress needs to invest in underfunded school meal programs rather than cutting services critical to student achievement and health." “These proposals would cause millions of children to lose access to free school meals at a time when working families are struggling with rising food costs. In the meantime, new government inefficiencies would result in time-consuming and costly paperwork for school nutrition teams, which would hinder their efforts to expand scratch-cooking and improve menus.

The group added that the Local Food for Schools program will no longer be able to provide childcare facilities and schools with an estimated $660 million in funding for 2025. According to a statement released on Monday by the state's governor, Maura Healy, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education confirmed that it received a notice of termination from the USDA on Friday regarding the second round of funding for Local Food for Schools, which was worth $12.2 million. The notice stated that the USDA had "determined this agreement no longer effectuates agency priorities and that termination of the award is appropriate." Governor Healey stated, "It's just the latest terrible cut with real impact on families across Massachusetts."

Donald Trump and Elon Musk have declared that feeding children and supporting local farmers are no longer "priorities." “There is nothing ‘appropriate’ about it. Our children, farmers, and small businesses are bearing the brunt of Trump and Musk's continued withholding of essential funds in violation of court orders. The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which provides food to food banks and organizations that reach underserved communities, was also included in the cuts, Politico reported. The publication was informed by a spokesperson for the USDA that funding “is no longer available” and that agreements would be terminated “after 60-day notification.�

�� The spokesperson added: “These programs, created under the former Administration via Executive authority, no longer effectuate the goals of the agency. LFPA and LFPA Plus agreements that were in place prior to LFPA 25, which still have substantial financial resources remaining, will continue to be in effect for the remainder of the period of performance.�