Federal budget cuts have hit an unexpected target that could affect hundreds of thousands of people in the Capital Region—people who are the least able to deal with the loss. A federal program administered by the USDA has been frozen, leaving the Regional Food Bank facing uncertainty and preparing for the worst.
350 thousand people are fed each month by the Regional Food Bank—through food pantries, soup kitchens, school programs and more. Last year a near-record 54 million pounds of food were distributed. CEO Tom Nardacci tells me, “You know, the pressures on the system are at an all-time high. So now is not a great time to take funding away from programs like this.”
But that is exactly what is happening.
The USDA—the Food Bank’s single largest source of food—is suspending shipments of produce and protein. Fruits veggies, meat, fish—gone. Nardacci says, “We’ve gotten notified even as of today that some orders of tractor trailer loads of food have been canceled.”
The USDA trucks in 400 tractor trailers filled with food each year to the Regional Food Bank. But next year 200 of those tractor trailers will be empty, Nardacci says that’s about 8 million pounds lost. That’s six and a half million meals. And it’s not just produce and protein. It’s programs, too. New York State gets federal money that it passes on to food banks to buy from New York farmers and producers. After this year, that funding will be gone– a million dollars in the system that would have otherwise gone directly to farmers. And a promised million dollars to pay for operations now needs to be made up.
Nardacci says the Food Bank easily pushes 100 million dollars worth of food through the door each year.
I asked him, “How much do you think is in jeopardy right now? It’s at least 10 percent just from the USDA programs alonethat’s ten percent at a time when we actually need more food.”
And while they wait for the whole picture to reveal itself, the CEO wants to grow the Retail Rescue Program, where food approaching its sell-by date is instead donated to the Food Bank. He’s hoping the state will rev up programs that buy produce from New York farmers. And he expects to ratchet up fundraising.
I asked, “Are you worried that people who count on the Regional Food Bank might not be able to get the food that they need because of this cut?” He answered, “That’s a tough question…I think on the face the answer is no…because we’re going to do the things we need to do to make sure they get that. “
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