Georgia schools and food banks lose USDA fresh food funding amid Trump cuts

March 20th, 2025

A fresh food stand with vegetables. — Fresh produce is displayed at the Indiana Food Market, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Schools and food banks in Georgia are losing funding that goes toward buying fresh food. This comes as the Trump administration cuts programs that support purchasing from local farms.

President Donald Trump has canceled several federal grants and programs, including the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, or LFS.

LFS provides funds to states to help buy locally sourced for schools and child care organizations. State representatives signed an agreement to expand the LFS to Georgia in 2023.

Nixing the program was recently criticized by Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia who aided in the program’s expansion.

“We should support our schools providing kids with fresh, nutritious food grown locally by Georgia farmers. It’s a win-win for childhood nutrition and Georgia agriculture,” Ossoff said in a press release. “I urge the Trump Administration to reverse course.”

Food banks are also seeing cuts through the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, or LFPA. LFPA also benefits local, underserved producers.

“We’re serving 60% more people today than we did three years ago. We need all the resources when can get,” said Kyle Waide, the CEO of Atlanta Community Food Bank.

“But we are hopeful that the administration is thinking about introducing alternative programs that would make up the difference of what they canceled,” Waide added.

However, on her recent visit to Georgia, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins defended canceling the funding.

“It was specific to COVID only. Multiples of grants had already been moved out of under that program, so what we pulled back was money that had not been spent yet,” Rollins said.

According to Ossoff’s office, Georgia may lose close to $35 million this year now that the funding is canceled.