FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – The Department of Agriculture plans to cancel more than a billion dollars of funding this year. With more slashes expected from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, some food banks are in a state of uncertainty. The USDA cut funding for the local food purc hase assistance cooperative agreement program which according to CBS News, provides about $1 billion funding to schools and food banks that allows them to buy food directly from farmers. WANE 15 reached out to local school districts to see how they would be impacted. Southwest Allen County Schools (SACS) told WANE 15 that; "The USDA funding that was cut was not allocated to schools directly, but was collected at the Indiana Department of Health and worked in collaboration with Indiana Department of Education to identify a local supply chain and pay those suppliers directly," said SACS Director of District Communications, Stacey Fleming. "Criteria was established as to what schools were invited to be a part of the program and SACS did not meet those criteria." Northwest Allen County Schools confirmed with WANE 15 that they were not impacted by the cuts. Community Harvest Food Bank's Adam Roby said the cuts have the "potential to be impactful big time and not in good ways." Indiana food banks are seeing a high level of need across the state, according to Feeding Indiana's Hungry Executive Director, Emily Bryant. She stresses that nearly two-thirds of the people visiting food banks are not eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) because their incomes are too high, leaving them with few alternatives to turn to for help. According to a recent hunger study from the organization, 76% of people in the survey said they visited food banks more this year than last year. Growing prices are also forcing some to make trade-offs, such as choosing between paying rent or buying groceries. Feeding Indiana's Hungry Executive Director, Emily Bryant worries that cuts will put further strain on food banks. The USDA purchases foods for USFA food distribution programs like the Emergency Food Assistance Program or TEFAP, school lunch, and more. Bryant says TEFAP is vital to combat hunger in Indiana. It provides fresh, frozen, canned, and dried foods to food banks from American farmers. Bryant noted that multiple food purchases aimed to be distributed later in the year have been cancelled. They were originally published by the USDA but were cancelled in early February. Bryant said that cancellations happen but this is a "much broader pullback of purchases than we've seen." Bryant said they have not received any word on why this was changed and she's unclear what their steps are moving forward. She says, "It's well within USDA's authority to pull back the funding used for all these purchases." "Food banks rely on the consistent delivery of USDA Foods to help Indiana's working families," said Bryant. "And we need to know if there will be a food shortfall and deliveries if some of those USDA food purchases continue to be delayed or canceled...We're all looking months down the road. And so knowing whether those deliveries are coming in the months to come or not is important for us to adapt and do what we can to mitigate a loss and food coming through." WANE 15 reached out to the USDA for comment but has yet to hear back. It cannot be confirmed at this time if the pending food purchases are related to the loss of USDA funding. ...read more read less