USDA cuts funding for $615,000 in food deliveries to Hunger Task Force

Milwaukee nonprofit organization Hunger Task Force said the delivery of $615,000 worth of food it was supposed to receive this summer has been canceled after the U.S. Department of Agriculture halted funding.

The USDA stopped $500 million in deliveries to food banks nationwide, Hunger Task Force said in a statement Tuesday. The funding came from the USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation, which provides resources to purchase food from American farmers and ranchers and send it to emergency food providers.

A USDA spokesperson told WISN 12 News that the "Biden Administration inflated statutory programs with Commodity Credit Corporation dollars without any plans for long-term solutions, and even in 2024, used the pandemic as a reason to make funding announcements."

"While the pandemic is over, USDA has not and will not lose focus on its core mission of strengthening food security, supporting agricultural markets, and ensuring access to nutritious foods."

The canceled orders were supposed to be received from June to September, totaling $2.2 million of food for pantries across Wisconsin, Hunger Task Force said.

It didn't say which other food pantries have been affected. Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, another large emergency food organization in the Milwaukee area, didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Hunger Task Force said the cancellations represented the loss of five full truckloads of canned chicken, cheese, milk and eggs and eight partial truckloads of turkey breast, chicken legs, pulled pork and pork chops. The organization said it represents over 302,000 pounds of food valued at $615,000, a little more than 25% of the state's canceled total.

Despite the cancellations, Hunger Task Force said it'll have enough food to feed the people it serves through its network.

This comes only a few weeks after the USDA cut the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement, Hunger Task Force CEO Matt King said in an email.

Hunger Task Force lost the $250,000 it used through this program, which it had used to buy locally raised meat and fresh produce that was made available to 114 pantries in 29 Wisconsin counties.

"This program was especially important to small farmers because it helped them have a guaranteed market for a portion of their products, which gave them the security to scale up and expand their business," King said. "Despite this setback, we will continue to prioritize access to healthy food and support Wisconsin farmers through our work."