Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is asking President Donald Trump’s administration to reconsider its decision to cancel $13 million in funding for Pennsylvania food banks to buy food from local farmers.
Shapiro said Tuesday the U.S. Department of Agriculture illegally canceled a three-year contract the agency and the state had agreed to in December. In response, he said, Pennsylvania’s secretary of agriculture will file an internal appeal with the agency challenging the cancellation.
If USDA does not change course, he said, Pennsylvania may take legal action.
“Pennsylvania farmers and food banks are owed $13 million, and I won’t stand by and let our farmers get screwed in the process,” Shapiro said at a news conference Tuesday at the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, which lost $1.8 million in expected federal dollars.
Shapiro, a first-term Democrat and a former state attorney general, has already sued the Trump administration once over a $2.1 billion freeze to environmental and energy projects in the state. And the governor warned last week after Trump signed an order to begin dismantling the Department of Education that he would consider legal action against the administration if Pennsylvania students are affected.
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Earlier this month, USDA announced it would end the $470 million Local Food Purchase Agreement Program, arguing it was time to move on from the pandemic-era initiative.
In a letter to the federal government Tuesday, Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said USDA had told the state the program no longer met the agency’s priorities. He responded that there was no basis for the claim, noting that the program had supported 190 farms statewide while providing 25.9 million pounds of food to charitable organizations in the last three years.
In a statement, a USDA spokesperson reiterated that the agency was moving away from COVID-era programs, and said the agency remains committed to its mission of strengthening food security, agriculture markets, and access to healthy food.
”There is nothing unlawful about sunsetting a time-limited, pandemic-era initiative that does not align with the current Departmental priorities,” the statement said. “Unlike the Biden Administration, which funneled billions in [USDA’s Commodity Credit Corp.] funds into short-term programs with no plan for longevity, USDA is prioritizing stable, proven solutions that deliver lasting impact.”
In the meantime, USDA’s decision to cancel the program left food banks across the state grappling with the loss of funding that covered the cost of well over one million meals annually in the Philadelphia metro area alone. The funds were set to be distributed to 14 food banks across the state over three years.
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Philabundance, which serves Philadelphia and the suburban counties, lost 18% of its food purchasing budget. Philadelphia’s Share Food Program lost $1.4 million and the Bucks County Opportunity Council lost around $260,000 annually.
The cuts came as food bank leaders said they are facing demand that mirrors the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders are worried food insecurity will continue to get worse amid tariffs, rising housing costs, and Republican proposals to slash food stamps and other social safety net programs.
George Matysik, executive director of the Share Food Program, said in a statement prior to Shapiro’s announcement that the organization was at risk of losing $8 million in food and funds this year because of a combination of several funding cuts.
“President Trump is declaring war on Poor People. This time targeting hungry students and their families, the Trump administration recently handed down yet another round of unconscionable funding cuts — and we are still bracing for what’s to come,” Matysik said.
Chris Hoffman, the president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, said at Tuesday’s news conference that he was in touch with USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins and was hopeful the food purchase program could be made permanent in the next farm bill.
Shapiro, who has indicated a willingness to work with the Republican president, was steeply critical of the Trump administration, which he said had harmed the very farmers it claims to support.
» READ MORE: Gov. Josh Shapiro says he’ll consider legal action against the Trump administration if education cuts affect Pa. students
He called Trump’s efforts to impose tariffs the “dumbest economic decision I’ve ever seen a president make” and framed the funding cuts as yet another example of chaos sown by the federal government that would harm families and businesses in Pennsylvania.
“All of the chaos he’s created is doing real harm to our farmers,” Shapiro said. “Here in Pennsylvania, we want to make clear that we give a damn about our farmers and we’ve got your backs.”
