FeedMore WNY says the recently announced cuts to a federal food bank program will mean “significant loss” for the region — more than 2.1M pounds of food.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it is cutting $500 million from a federal program aimed at allowing providing food to low-income households.
FeedMore WNY says the cuts will equate to roughly 2.1 million less pounds of food than it was able to purchase in 2024, which represents 13% of the food it distributed in 2024.
“These items that were coming to us through those for food purchases were high value items such as proteins like chicken, turkey, pork, eggs, dairy products as well as produce,” Catherine Shick, the public relations manager for FeedMore WNY, told 2 On Your Side.
“So this is a significant loss for feed more western New York in terms of these funding cuts.”
The program is part of The Emergency Food Assistance Program, also know as TEFAP. It’s also part of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), a government owner corporation designed to assist the agriculture industry.
FeedMore WNY, and similar food banks across the country, place orders through the CCC for the TEFAP program and distribute the food to low-income households to administer the program.
The impact of the cuts will be felt within a month, according to Shick.
“These are actual real cuts that will be felt by FeedMore,” Shick said. “We know that we placed orders for about 12 separate orders of the food purchases through CCC to be coming to FeedMore Western New York between May and August. We have learned that those orders will not be fulfilled.”
FeedMore WNY learned about the canceled orders over the weekend.
“So those were truckloads of food items — such as those turkey, pork, chicken, high-value animal proteins — that will not be coming to feed more Western New York,” Shick said.
The USDA is also cutting programs that could impact school lunches for districts around the country.
A spokesperson for the Buffalo Public School system tells 2 On Your Side that they are monitoring the situation.