The U.S. Department of Agriculture has cut two federal programs that spend more than $1 billion a year to help schools and food banks buy food from local farms and ranches, meaning children are less likely to receive healthy, nutritious meals, experts told Newsweek.
The agency has cut the $660 million Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS) for 2025, a USDA spokesperson confirmed to Newsweek. The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA), which would have provided about $500 million to support food banks this year, has also been cut.
Why It Matters
The cuts affect more than 40 states that had signed agreements to participate in the programs in previous years. Advocates say the cuts could threaten school meal programs and hurt struggling families who are grappling with the rising cost of groceries.
Wong Maye-E/AP Photo
What To Know
The Trump administration’s “decision to cut funding for cooperative agreements that support schools and other organizations’ ability to purchase local foods will have a devastating impact on students, schools, farmers, and local economies,” Alexis Bylander, the interim director of child nutrition programs and policy at the Food Research & Action Center, told Newsweek.
School districts across the nation already face challenges in maintaining school meal programs due to limited resources, said Tara Thomas, the government affairs manager at the School Superintendents Association.
She told Newsweek that the LFS program was a way for the USDA to support schools in purchasing local, nutritious foods, and that it was “an important complement to the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.”
Since the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, a greater number of meals have been prepared in school kitchens, according to Pamela Koch, a professor of nutrition and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. “This takes resources, and these cuts will sadly curtail these efforts,” Koch told Newsweek.
The loss of the programs may lead to more reliance “on ultra-processed, pre-prepared meal items,” Koch said. “School meals have the potential to nourish students as well as to expand their palates, which can only happen with local foods and financial support of school meals.”
Becky Pringle, the president of the National Education Association, said the cuts couldn’t have come “at a worse time.”
Without the programs, schools “will struggle to offer meals prepared from fresh ingredients, and many school districts will face widening budget gaps,” she said in a statement provided to Newsweek.
A USDA spokesperson said the agency remained focused on its “core mission” of “strengthening food security, supporting agricultural markets, and ensuring access to nutritious food,” adding that the agency was prioritizing “stable, proven solutions that deliver lasting impact.”
What People Are Saying
The USDA spokesperson said: “This isn’t an abrupt shift—just last week, USDA released over half a billion in previously obligated funds for LFPA and LFS to fulfill existing commitments and support ongoing local food purchases.
“With 16 robust nutrition programs in place, USDA remains focused on its core mission: strengthening food security, supporting agricultural markets, and ensuring access to nutritious food. Unlike the Biden Administration, which funneled billions in CCC funds into short-term programs with no plan for longevity, USDA is prioritizing stable, proven solutions that deliver lasting impact. The COVID era is over—USDA’s approach to nutrition programs will reflect that reality moving forward.”
Shannon Gleave, the president of the School Nutrition Association, said in a statement: “The Local Food for Schools program has enabled chronically underfunded school meal programs to purchase fresh, local options for student meals—everything from locally grown produce, fresh fish, or meat from nearby ranches, to cheese, yogurt and milk from local dairies. In addition to losing the benefits for our kids, this loss of funds is a huge blow to community farmers and ranchers and is detrimental to school meal programs struggling to manage rising food and labor costs.”
Alexis Bylander, the interim director of child nutrition programs and policy at the Food Research & Action Center, said: “The Trump administration’s decision to cut funding for cooperative agreements that support schools and other organizations’ ability to purchase local foods will have a devastating impact on students, schools, farmers, and local economies. As food costs continue to rise and schools struggle to stretch their meal budgets, now is the time to bolster efforts that improve access to affordable and healthy local foods, not gut them.”
Tara Thomas, the government affairs manager at the School Superintendents Association, said: “School nutrition programs are critical to ensure students receive the meals they need to thrive academically and physically. However, school districts across the country face challenges in maintaining these programs due to limited resources. In a time where resources to schools to feed kids can be hard to come by, the Local Food for Schools Program served as a way for USDA to provide additional resources and support schools in purchasing local, nutritious foods—an important complement to the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.
“As districts grapple with rising food and labor costs alongside growing food insecurity in their communities, the federal government should be strengthening these programs with additional resources—not cutting them.”
Becky Pringle, the president of the National Education Association, said in a statement: “[President Donald Trump and Elon Musk‘s] efforts to deprive students of healthy meals couldn’t come at a worse time. As food prices skyrocket and household budgets are squeezed, more families depend on healthy school meals to be nourished. These popular programs have allowed schools to serve fresh, locally sourced, nutritious foods—at no extra cost. It has been a win-win: students benefit from healthier meals, and schools stretch their limited budgets further. Without this support, schools will struggle to offer meals prepared from fresh ingredients, and many school districts will face widening budget gaps.”
She added: “Undermining locally resourced school meals directly harms student health and learning, including learning about and connecting to their food sources. If we care about academic success, cutting food funding is exactly the wrong move for everyone.”
What Happens Next
School districts across the country must assess how to mitigate the loss of the funding to their school meal programs.
