The USDA cut $500 million in funding to food banks. Here’s how they’re coping.

As President Donald Trump’s administration attempts to lower inflation by reducing government spending, Americans are finding out the very programs putting healthy, affordable foods on their plates are on the chopping block.A pair of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs — one that funds the purchase of local farm-fresh foodsfor school cafeteriasand another that funds much of the product available in food banks —were cut for 2025, amounting to more than $1 billion in purchasing.In addition to the $660 million slashed from school food programs, the USDA cut $500 million specifically intended to help food banks and domestic agriculture. The latter came from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) branch of the USDA’s Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).Food banks around the country had been counting on that $500 million to feed millions of families and individuals experiencing hunger this year. They use these funds to make purchases within the domestic food supply chain, an...