Millions of dollars in anticipated funding that Connecticut schools and food banks would have used to buy fresh food from local farmers has dried up with the cancellation of two federal initiatives. The U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Trump administration recently informed state agencie s it will no longer run the pair of programs that spend $1 billion annually: the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program and the Local Food for Schools program. The programs were created three years ago during the Biden administration when Sec. Tom Vilsack led the Agriculture Department. With that pot of money, schools and food banks could supply healthier food to those in need with the mutual benefit of sourcing from farmers and producers and giving a boost to the local agricultural industry. Connecticut will still get to spend the remaining money currently allotted to state agencies. But the termination of the programs means additional funding of millions of dollars is no longer on the table. Much of those grants came through the pandemic aid package, the American Rescue Plan, that Congress passed in 2021. “The COVID era is over — USDA’s approach to nutrition programs will reflect that reality moving forward,” a spokesperson for the federal Agriculture Department said, according to The Washington Post. The Connecticut Department of Agriculture said it learned of the Local Food Purchase Assistance program’s cancellation on March 7. The 2025 agreement awarded the agency $3.7 million that would have run through 2027. The agreement was signed, but without the plan’s approval, no funds were received or disbursed, according to spokesperson Rebecca Eddy. The state Agriculture Department will be able to spend its remaining dollars, with those funds expiring in October. The current agreement is structured to work with eight recipients to buy food from local farmers and producers and distribute through their various networks. The agency said by the end of last year, 516 distribution locations provided food to communities coming from 131 producers across the state. Through the Local Food for Schools program, the Connecticut State Department of Education has $1.8 million in current funding that can be used through April 30. It was planning to secure additional funding so the state agency could reimburse school districts that purchased local food and used it in the national programs that provide low-cost or free school breakfast and lunches. “The CSDE remains committed to ensuring students have access to nutritious meals and the resources they need to learn, grow, and thrive. We will continue working with partners to explore all opportunities that support student well-being and academic success,” according to a statement issued by the Connecticut State Department of Education. Jason Jakubowski, president and CEO of Connecticut Foodshare, called it a “win-win-win” scenario: a major boon for farmers who had a “guaranteed revenue stream” plus the benefits for food banks to be able to afford to buy in bulk from local farmers and for people who have less access to fresh produce. “With a lot of the other ambiguity surrounding what’s going to happen with federal programs, it’s definitely created a layer of anxiety for the local food pantries but also for the people that we serve,” Jakubowski said in an interview. Jakubowski joined a Monday press conference with lawmakers and other stakeholders who benefitted from the federal programs. Connecticut’s senators framed the push for spending cuts as the Trump administration prioritizing billionaires over working Americans. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., noted most people who depend on food assistance in Connecticut work, adding that stagnant wages are not high enough to help them pay the bills. And while the pandemic exacerbated food insecurity across the U.S., Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., argued that the White House is “taking the food off the table from working families so that the ultra-wealthy can have tax cuts.” “By ending these two programs, all you’re doing is hurting farmers and jeopardizing the food security of our families,” Murphy said. “These programs don’t save big amounts of money for the federal government, they don’t balance the budget.” Volunteers packing food at Connecticut Foodshare’s warehouse in Bloomfield. Credit: Mark Pazniokas / CT Mirror Connecticut Foodshare was one of the largest participants in the program that had received about $3 million over the past few years. The group was set to receive another $1 million before the initiative was terminated. The nonprofit provided some of that fresh produce, such as lettuce, beets, carrots and squash, to about 600 pantries throughout the state. Without another infusion of funds from the federal government, Jakubowski said, it will be “almost impossible for us to be able to replicate that.” That will likely take the biggest toll on farmers and producers across the state. Smaller farms in Connecticut contend with a combination of issues and concerns: unpredictable weather, competition with larger farms and rising costs. Renee Giroux, a first-generation farmer and executive director of the Northwest Connecticut Regional Food Hub, partners with 16 food panties in the region. She said the federal dollars helped supply fresh food to students, hospital patients and farm-to-school programs in that corner of the state. Without the money, providers will turn to cheaper alternatives like processed and shelf-stable food. Giroux’s nonprofit supports 40 local farmers to help them with marketing, sales and logistics, to “maximize the market potential for their products.” “When this funding is cut, small farms lose a critical market for this produce and the income it produces, making it harder to plan, plant and thrive,” Giroux said. “At a time when food insecurity is rising and local farms are struggling to survive, we should be strengthening programs like LFPA and not cutting them.” Matthew Went, the co-owner of River Ridge Farm in Portland, working in one of the greenhouses. He and Dakota Rudloff-Eastman have their fingers crossed that funding for two new greenhouses will come through this year. Credit: Lisa Hagen / CT Mirror Randall Mel, director of food, nutrition and wellness services for Middletown Public Schools and vice president of the School Nutrition Association of Connecticut, said schools in his area received about $25,000 for the past two years. That gave his school district the ability to buy directly from local farms like Cold Spring Farm in Colchester and River Ridge Farm in Portland as well as from local farmers’ markets. Mel said 60% of Middletown’s student population relies on free and reduced school meals. He said the program “expanded what we can offer on our menus” including produce like winter squashes, Brussels sprouts and hardy greens. “At a time when grocery prices are soaring, school meals remain one of the most reliable sources of nutrition for over 200,000 Connecticut students that participate in meal programs,” Mel said. “Investing in these programs is an investment in their health, their education and their future.” As the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE look for ways to slash federal spending across all government agencies, local stakeholders are looking to how Connecticut might be able to address the loss at the national level. Jakubowski pointed to a House bill already before the Connecticut General Assembly that would increase funding for the Connecticut Nutrition Assistance Program to $10 million and support statewide food banks. He said their proposal would direct 15% of that funding to go to Connecticut farmers, and try to make up for the lost revenue they will no longer receive through the cancelled federal programs. “It would be a way to continue the farm-to-neighbor program,” Jakubowski said. CT Mirror reporters Mark Pazniokas and John Moritz contributed to this story. ...read more read less