U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-23, is pictured with FeedMore WNY staff members during a recent meeting. When the March 2024 news release was received by The Post-Journal, FeedMore WNY had received a $3 million federal funding allocation for a new building. Now, it’s seeing a funding cut through the elimination of the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Emergency Food Assistance Program. FeedMore expected to lose more than $3.5 million worth of food with the program’s cancellation. Submitted file photo

Federal funding cuts are about to be felt by organizations that help supply area food pantries.

In a new release on Wednesday, FeedMore WNY, which offers assistance to food pantries through its food bank distribution center and other programs helping hungry people in need, announced that a key federal funding source used to purchase high-value food items has been terminated, “significantly impacting FeedMore WNY’s work to meet the increasing demand for food assistance.”

According to the USDA’s website, the Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP, is a federal program that helps supplement the diets of low-income people by providing them with emergency food assistance at no cost. Through TEFAP, the USDA purchases a variety of nutritious, high-quality USDA Foods, and makes those foods available to state distributing agencies, with the amount of food based on the number of unemployed people and the number of people living below the poverty line in that state. State agencies provide this food to local agencies, including food banks, which distributes food to local organizations that directly serve the public, including soup kitchens and food pantries.

In FeedMore WNY’s release, they said the USDA has confirmed that $500 million in TEFAP food purchases to be funded by the Commodity Credit Corporation has been permanently canceled. Last year, they said, more than $4 million worth of food came to FeedMore WNY through the Commodity Credit Corporation program, enabling the purchase of things such as proteins, produce and dairy items, which were then distributed among the organization’s partner food pantries, soup kitchens and other hunger-relief agencies serving food-insecure community members.

“FeedMore WNY is deeply disappointed to learn of the cancelation of food purchases funded by the Commodity Credit Corporation, which provided nutritious food for our food bank distribution network and 400 partner agencies around our service area at a time when grocery prices and the cost of living remain incredibly high for hard-working families,” Collin Bishop, chief communications officer for FeedMore WNY, said in the press release. “These programs were created to assist food banks and charitable food assistance organizations in their response to the growing need for food assistance. These additional funds did not simply help us during the pandemic; they have been essential as we serve an increasing number of people who are food insecure. Despite the challenges wrought by these funding cuts, FeedMore WNY remains committed to fulfilling our mission of providing nutritious food and support to hungry community members of all ages. We will continue to serve our hunger-relief agencies and work with our community partners to offer dignity, hope and brighter futures to our Western New York neighbors in need.”

In terms of the immediate impact, FeedMore WNY learned that twelve pending CCC orders, for delivery between May and August 2025, were canceled. Those twelve orders consisted of truckloads of food including chicken, turkey, pork, cheese, and eggs. Based on the amount of Commodity Credit Corporation funding received last year and what has already been received to start the year, FeedMore WNY estimates the total impact for this year will be a loss of more than $3.5 million worth of food due to the program cancellation. The federal funding cut comes at a time when FeedMore WNY and its partner agencies across Erie, Niagara, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties are experiencing increased demand for services. Last year, FeedMore WNY assisted 165,722 individuals – including approximately 53,400 children and 41,200 older adults – across its four-county service area. This was a 46 percent increase compared to people served in 2021.

According to a memo on the USDA’s website regarding funding for the Commodity Credit Corporation program, the program seemed to be planning to run as normal back in December, with around $500 million in additional support for emergency food programs planning to be on the way. The memo also details that the majority of the $500 million in TEFAP resources provided through Commodity Credit Corporation were meant to support the purchase of USDA Foods for distribution through TEFAP.

Western New York is not the only location feeling the impact of this specific federal funding cut, according to an article from Yahoo news back at the end of March, which detailed similar problems for food banks and pantries in Massachusetts. A statement from the USDA included in this article says there has been no pause in regular TEFAP purchases.

“The funding that was designated from CCC has been repurposed,” a USDA spokesperson said in the article. “The Biden Administration created unsustainable programming and expectations using the Commodity Credit Corporation. Regardless, USDA continues to purchase food for The Emergency Food Assistance Program, with over $166 million spent in FY 2025 to date for program requirements. USDA also is using Section 32 purchases to support TEFAP, purchasing over $300 million in various poultry, fish, fruits, vegetables, and tree nuts. USDA recently approved an additional $261 million in Section 32 purchases to provide even more fruits, vegetables, and tree nuts to TEFAP.”

Data from an article by Reuters also at the end of March says that “food banks are handling unprecedented demand as U.S. hunger rates climb after years of decline. In 2023, 13.5% of Americans struggled at some point to secure enough food, the highest rate in nearly a decade, according to the most recent USDA data. In rural America, the hunger rate is even higher, at 15.4%, the data shows.”

The article also says that food banks and pantries in other states including West Virginia, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, California and Nebraska have together lost millions of dollars of federal funding and food deliveries in recent weeks. The Reuters article said that a USDA spokesperson told them that purchases were still being made to support food banks “but did not respond to detailed questions about TEFAP spending and why food banks are seeing reduced deliveries.”