Pennsylvania sues USDA for cutting funding to $1B food aid programs

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday against the U.S. Department of Agriculture accusing the department of cancelling a $13 million, three-year contract without cause. Pennsylvania’s Local Food Purchasing Assistance Program, or LFPA, allowed low-income families and food banks across the country to access fresh, locally grown produce. The administration cut funding for the LFPA and a similar program for schools and child care centers. Those programs were designed to distribute over $1 billion in food reimbursement funding to states across the country, Shapiro said. The USDA’s decision is unexpected, illegal, and has already wrought serious harm to Pennsylvania farmers, Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said. The LFPA gave nearly 200 Pennsylvania farms reliable income and supplied over a dozen food banks with fresh and healthy food, Shapiro said. The program’s funding helped to provide over 4.4 million meals to families across the state, he added. The government made a deal, then broke its promise, and Pennsylvania is taking legal action to fix that, he said.

What reason did the USDA give for cutting the programs? The Biden-era agreement no longer achieves the agency's priorities, according to a USDA letter included in the court filing. Additionally, in a March 10 statement issued to the press, the USDA noted that the LFPA was created via executive authority during the COVID-19 pandemic. The department went on to say that the program still retains substantial financial resources from previous funding allocations. In a Wednesday afternoon statement to WORLD, the USDA declined to comment on Shapiro’s lawsuit, citing a policy prohibiting comment on pending litigation. 

Dig deeper: Read Onize Oduah's report on a sustainable approach to farming.