ALBANY COUNTY — Amid the flurry of slashed federal programming, some concerned Enterprise readers locked in on two that once belonged to the United States Department of Agriculture for the purpose of funding local-food purchases for schools and food pantries, and wondered if local institutions were impacted.

The Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program was worth $660 million while the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program was worth around $500 million. The USDA announced they were canceled earlier this month, claiming they were unsustainable. 

The Enterprise dug into the issue and found that these two programs were not a major source of funding for local schools and the impact on food pantries has less to do with quantity than variety — but that a concurrent increase in need has in fact reduced pantry stocks in some cases. 

One Enterprise reader visited the Hilltown Community Resource Center last week only to find the shelves “two-thirds empty,” and then later read about the USDA cuts and wondered about a connection. The Enterprise spoke with HCRC Program Coordinator Marybeth Peterson who confirmed that there was a reduction, but was unsure about the cause. 

“The inventory is not at all like it used to be,” she said. “I don’t know if this is a temporary thing but we’re trying to basically maintain our inventory just in case things get worse.” 

For the reason behind the reduction, The Enterprise spoke with Jenn Hyde, the executive director of Catholic Charities Tri-County Services, which oversees the resource center. 

Hyde told The Enterprise that the Northeast Regional Food Bank — which Catholic Charities relies on “a great deal” — did have funding cut by the USDA pull-back, but that it wasn’t having an impact on overall supply.

The food bank had received $2,000,000 in Local Food Purchase Assistance  money through a previous round of funding, according to the state’s Department of Agriculture and Markets, but the canceled funds had not yet been allocated to any agency in the state.

Regional Food Bank Senior Director of Public Affairs and Government Relations Eric Wohlleber did not provide The Enterprise with any additional information about the USDA cuts, referring the paper back to Catholic Charities. 

Amid the cuts, the food supply, Hyde said, “actually seems OK,” but that there’s an “influx of people turning to us who need food that the food is literally going off the shelves almost faster than we can refill them.” 

The cuts are instead affecting what’s available, Hyde said. 

“Certain things that used to be easier to get are just a little bit harder,” she said. 

Meanwhile, the head of the Guilderland Food Pantry, John McDonnell, told The Enterprise that they have not seen any clear funding impacts. 

“We do receive funding through the Regional Food Bank which provides us the opportunity to obtain USDA products from their inventory,” he said. “To date our funding has not been reduced and USDA products are available; that said, the inventory of USDA items does fluctuate quite a bit so not all items may be available each week.”

He gave eggs as an example. 

“Overall we haven't had any issues getting the items we need,” McDonnell said. “It just takes a little patience waiting until items cycle back to the inventory.” 

Given the intensity and spontaneity of the federal funding cuts, there’s much confusion around what’s actually being impacted — especially since some cuts are reversed or amended in some way shortly after they’re announced — as well as a reticence to speak out about them, for fear of drawing the ire of President Donald Trump or the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, who are using government coffers as political leverage. 

For instance, Columbia University had $400 million in federal funding pulled over pro-Palestine protests, and the University of Pennsylvania had $175 million in funds frozen over a transgender policy. 

For its part, the USDA claimed through a spokesperson that the food pantry and school programs were “unsustainable,” but that existing contracts would be fulfilled. 

Schools 

While the impact on local food pantries is somewhat murky, schools in the Enterprise coverage area were not beneficiaries of the local-food purchasing program, according to a New York State Education Department Director of Communications JP O’Hare. 

However, they theoretically could have since the funding was pulled before the education department had a chance to start a new round of applications. 

“Before the announced federal cuts to the second round of funding for the Local Food for Schools Program, New York State was set to receive $27,761,600 to distribute to schools in order to increase their purchases of local, domestic, and unprocessed or minimally processed agricultural commodities for school meal programs,” O’Hare wrote in an email to The Enterprise. 

“This funding was intended to be allocated over the next three years, supplementing the regular meal reimbursements that schools typically receive,” he said. “Although this funding would have created more opportunities to incorporate healthy local products into school meals, schools are still able to provide wholesome meals using locally sourced products utilizing their meal reimbursements.”

O’Hare said that the funding had not yet been announced and that it was impossible to know how many schools might have applied if they had the chance, but said that only 6 percent of “school food authorities” in the state applied in the first round, which distributed nearly $12 million to 159 school food authorities.