SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has halted deliveries to food banks in several states. Those truckloads of food were paid for with $500 million that had been set aside through an emergency assistance program for fiscal year 2025. This comes after the Agriculture Department cut a billion dollars from a program that helps schools and food banks purchase food from local farms. These cuts come at a tough time for social service organizations across the country, many of which are dealing with state funding cuts and, of course, higher food prices. Joree Novotny is executive director of the Ohio Association of Food Banks, and she joins us now from Columbus. Welcome to the program.
JOREE NOVOTNY: Thank you for having me.
MCCAMMON: So, Joree, what were you told, first of all, about the cancellation of these food deliveries?
NOVOTNY: Our food banks receive a few different sources of emergency food assistance. We have entitlement foods that are appropriated through traditional farm bill procedures and appropriations, and those are the foods that we can most reliably count on to consistently come into our docks. And then we often receive product through bonus or Section 32 purchases, which are designed to help the USDA support markets that are maybe in surplus or have a little bit of difficulty selling or buying. And then we have an opportunity to, thankfully, bring in additional product through the Commodity Credit Corporation. And those are the orders that we had, that we were expecting to see coming in, that we've received some changes in order status on. So we don't know if those TEFAP orders - the Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP, orders - have been permanently canceled or if they are merely halted. What we do know is without that food in the near term, we are going to struggle to meet our current demand.
MCCAMMON: How did you become aware of this change? I mean, how did this come across your radar?
NOVOTNY: So we're generally getting regular updates from our state agency and our federal partners about what foods are in the queue, if you will. So we'll see those status changes go from on order to scheduled for delivery to delivered. We look to try to have some predictability about what products we can count on from our partners at USDA so that we can then look for other food sources to supplement those foods. And we noticed that there were many orders that were on order under TEFAP Commodity Credit Corporation that changed to being returned to AMS, the Agricultural Marketing Service arm of the United States Department of Agriculture. They don't - they're not listed as canceled, and we hope that what that means is basically the new administration is taking stock of what their priorities will be for clearing and supporting markets and supporting farmers and food banks.
MCCAMMON: So I understand there's a lot of uncertainty about what this all means, but right now, how much food are you missing?
NOVOTNY: For us in Ohio, I've talked to several food banks that have seen several loads of food that have come off of what we can expect to come into our warehouses. Going back to 2018, we've seen both of the previous administrations continue to invest in programs like TEFAP that have connected farmers and food banks. That's led to really roughly a billion dollars or so in food purchases annually. You know, I remain confident that this administration will continue on that path. Right now, we are uncertain about what that path looks like.
MCCAMMON: Give me a sense of how big the demand is. I mean, how many people is the Ohio Association of Food Banks serving right now?
NOVOTNY: Yeah. From July through December of last year, we fulfilled more food pantry visits in that six-month period than in any six-month period in our nearly 35-year history. What that tells me is that working families who were able to get by, even living paycheck to paycheck, have seen years of rising costs - yes, for food, and also for other basic needs like housing, utilities and medical care, and they're finding that they have a shortfall in their food budgets.
MCCAMMON: What do you hear from the people you serve when you have to make these kinds of cuts?
NOVOTNY: I think it's frustrating for everyone. I think, you know, we have 12 multicounty food banks that have large warehouses of food that they're bringing in and out, and then they're supplying that food to 3,600 different local hunger-relief providers. And they're all wondering, why is there less food available at my food bank? And we did a survey about a year ago of 2,300 food pantry visitors. About two-thirds of the households that we're serving reported that the adults in their households skipped meals in the last year and more than a third of them reported doing so almost every month or every month.
MCCAMMON: Joree, what happens if this continues? Do you see food pantries in Ohio or other parts of the country having to shut down?
NOVOTNY: Well, food banks receive roughly, across the country, about 20- to 25% of all of the food that they provide from USDA foods. If we don't have especially these wholesome center-of-the-plate foods that we're fortunate enough to get through the Emergency Food Assistance Program, we are concerned about that. And I think we're concerned ultimately about not having certainty.
MCCAMMON: That's Joree Novotny, executive director of the Ohio Association of Food Banks. Joree, thanks so much for talking with us today.
NOVOTNY: Thank you for having me.
MCCAMMON: NPR reached out to the USDA for comment following this interview, but we have not received a response.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHROMEO SONG, "CABIN FEVER") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
