USDA cuts disrupt food bank, local farming support program in Nevada
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is ending funding for two programs that supported locally sourced food options for Nevada schools and food banks as part of the Trump administration’s sweeping effort to cut down on federal spending.
Earlier this month, the Nevada Department of Agriculture received termination notices for two funding grants: the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, or LFS, and the 2025 Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, also known as LFPA.
The latter program was used to operate Home Feeds Nevada, a state purchasing and distribution program for local producers and processors that supply the state’s two major food banks, Three Square Food Bank in Southern Nevada and the Food Bank of Northern Nevada. The program was created in the 2021 legislative session, when the state had an influx of federal funding support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cuts were part of a reversal of a $1.1 billion expansion of those programs announced in December during the Biden administration. President Donald Trump has said his government is pursuing widespread cuts to address a $1.15 trillion federal budget deficit, according to federal data.
USDA ‘moving forward’
A USDA spokesperson said the agency decided to terminate the program at the end of its performance period on June 30. The agency said the move turned away from the previous administration’s method of using the Commodity Credit Corp., a U.S. government corporation involved in USDA-related business and programs, and called the decision “a return to long-term, fiscally responsible initiatives.”
“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,” the spokesperson said in a Wednesday email. “Unlike the Biden Administration, which funneled billions in CCC (Commodity Credit Corporation) 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.”
The NDA was expected to receive about $4.1 million for LFPA and $1.7 million for LFS in the 2025 fiscal year, according to USDA data. LFPA supported 37 unique producers, largely using the grant funds to buy dairy and milk, meat and poultry, and produce.
The state has about $139,000 remaining to spend on Home Feeds Nevada before the June 30 deadline, according to an NDA spokesperson.
“With the termination of these funding grants, there is no additional funding for the Home Feeds Nevada program at this time,” a spokesperson for the Nevada Department of Agriculture said of the March 7 notice. “Without funding, the program will still exist but will not operate.”
Three Square CEO Beth Martino said Tuesday the food bank could start seeing an effect on the amount of food coming to their loading docks by the summertime.
Food insecurity remains
The cuts come at a time when food insecurity is still a concern. Three Square estimates that one in seven people are food insecure in Southern Nevada. For children only, that rate rises to one in five.
“Coming out of the pandemic, at times, we’ve seen as much as a 15 percent increase in any given month of people that that were looking for food assistance,” Martino said, noting that inflation has put a strain on groceries and other sections of a household’s budget. “So, it’s particularly troubling to have programs like this cut when we know that there is a growing need.”
USDA-supported funding — including from The Emergency Food Assistance Program, a program similarly facing program cuts and pauses — helped purchase about 5 million pounds of food for Three Square last year. Recent cuts and delivery cancellations from the agency will reduce the amount of food for Southern Nevada’s food bank by about 1 million pounds, Martino said.
Last year, Three Square distributed more than 41 million meals, or the equivalent of more than 49 million pounds of food and grocery products, nonprofit officials said.
Three Tribes in the state were also set to receive more than $1 million through the LFPA: the Fallon Paiute Shoshone, Pyramid Lake Paiute and Walker River Paiute tribes.
A Monday press release from the Walker River Paiute Tribe said the tribe used funds from the program to purchase food from local suppliers to give to its pantry, which typically supports 120 households a week.
“The notice simply states the ‘agreement no longer effectuates agency priorities and that termination of the award is appropriate.’ No other explanation was provided,” according to the release.
Legislative fix sought
A bill introduced in the Nevada Legislature could replace some of that funding. Senate Bill 233, sponsored by state Sen. Fabian Doñate and Sen. Edgar Flores, would appropriate $800,000 from the general fund to the Home Feeds Nevada program. The bill also would require the Governor’s Council of Food Security to study the food purchase programs to find sustainable funding sources and share the report for the next legislative session.
“Because we used ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) dollars, and we’re in a different circumstance now with the federal cuts, we need to be able to pass funding to be able to continue this program,” Doñate, D-Las Vegas, told lawmakers during a March 18 hearing on the bill.
Martino said the Home Feeds Nevada program is also significant because it supports local farming. About 93 percent of Nevada farms are family owned, according to USDA statistics from 2019.
“All across the country, this will have a dramatic impact on the agricultural community as these types of programs are eliminated, those farms have to look for someone else to purchase their food,” she said. “It affects both the business community and the agricultural community, and it affects food banks and folks that are experiencing hunger.”
Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.
