But those programs have since expired while demand has continued to rise, spurred by rising food costs and a worsening economy, and food banks are already struggling to keep up.
Before the pandemic, nonprofit redistributor Food Lifeline and its network of more than 300 food banks in Western Washington served about 800,000 people annually. In 2024, they served 1.7 million. One in four Washingtonians visited a food bank last year, according to the state Department of Agriculture.
Food banks will soon have an even harder time meeting demand thanks to cuts to federal food security programs in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA has already cut $500 million from the Local Food Purchase Assistance program (LFPA) and is in the process of cutting $500 million from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). The agency said it’s redirecting the money so it can fight bird flu.
LFPA, a relatively new program created during the Biden administration, provides money to state agriculture departments to pass on as grants to food banks so they can purchase food directly from local farmers.
TEFAP was created by Congress in 1981 to purchase excess food from farmers. USDA distributes those commodities to the states, which in turn distribute them to food banks and meal programs. The program is a win/win for farmers and food banks: Growers get financial support when they have crops they either can’t sell or would have to sell at below-market rates. Food banks get staple foods for their clients such as milk, frozen and canned meat and dried fruit.
To stretch the Ballard Food Bank’s resources, a sign in the warehouse informs clients of available alternates. Warehouse coordinator Kelty Clark-Mahoney said that ordinarily the Bank would have both pasta and rice on hand, but now the organization switches the availability of these staples each week. (M. Scott Brauer/Cascade PBS)
In addition to the USDA cuts, Congressional Republicans have proposed cutting $230 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which feeds more than 40 million low-income Americans.
“We’re anticipating we’re going to see greater need as more folks lose government jobs and benefits, which includes SNAP and Medicaid, and as inflation continues to have an impact on price of these items,” said Jen Muzia, Ballard Food Bank executive director. “It’s really a perfect storm of factors impacting food supply and we’re seeing shortages.”
Even before the federal cuts, Muzia said Ballard Food Bank was struggling to keep its shelves stocked with essentials. She explained that when food prices go up, people are less likely to make donations to the food bank. Grocery stores and wholesalers also take more care to reduce overbuying, which means fewer donations of their excess purchases.
Food banks have always purchased some of the food that lines their shelves from retailers and wholesalers, but inflation has reduced how much they can afford.
“I’m having trouble stocking our shelves; honestly, they’re empty,” said Muzia. “We had to stop buying eggs. The cost of eggs is now so high, and I can’t buy enough, I’d be better off spending that on other essentials that I can stock my shelves with. … It’s really concerning. I’m worried about it.”
Washington state is set to lose $11.8 million in LFPA funds and $10.5 million in food through TEFAP, according to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray’s office.
Food Lifeline chief development officer Ryan Scott said the organization expects to lose about $2 million in federal support in the coming year, which translates to about 7 million pounds of food the organization won’t be able to purchase. Food Lifeline is a redistributor that purchases and accepts donations from farmers, wholesalers, manufacturers and retailers. It distributes about 75 million pounds of food to its network of Western Washington food bank partners.
The rice shelves were empty last week at Ballard Food Bank. (M. Scott Brauer/Cascade PBS)
Volunteers Skyler Dorman (right) and Ana Maria King help sort fresh food donations in the warehouse for the Food Recovery program at Ballard Food Bank. The organization distributed approximately 4.5 million pounds of food in the past year, and about a third of that was through the organization’s Food Recovery program, which collects excess and soon-to-expire produce, baked goods and pet food from nearby stores. (M. Scott Brauer/Cascade PBS)
Cans of mixed fruit stand among empty shelves at Ballard Food Bank last week. Without the strain of inflation and high food costs, the Bank would have more canned fruit available, but it now prioritizes the purchasing of canned vegetables because of their higher nutritional value per cost than fruit. (M. Scott Brauer/Cascade PBS)
In addition to serving as an intermediary between USDA and food banks, Washington’s Department of Agriculture has its own food security programs. For the past two years, the state has invested about $32.2 million annually in food assistance.
As of this writing, state budgets have not been finalized, but there is money in all proposals for food assistance. Gov. Bob Ferguson has recommended allocating $41.2 million annually for state food assistance programs. The House and Senate budgets propose an additional $93.2 million in one-time funding for food assistance programs, beyond the $41.2 million.
Asked about the coming federal cuts, WSDA spokesperson Daniel Schafer said, “WSDA remains committed to supporting agricultural viability and food access and continues to monitor and support state and federal decisions and opportunities accordingly. We will continue to pursue strategies that support the win/win of purchasing quality WA foods to increase food access for lower-income Washingtonians with the resources we have.”
Schafer said the agency is currently trying to maximize the amount of TEFAP “bonus food” it can get. If any states turn down some of the food available from USDA through TEFAP, it is made available to other states on a first-come, first-served basis.
Ballard Food Bank distributed approximately 4.5 million pounds of purchased and donated food in the past year. (M. Scott Brauer/Cascade PBS)
Food security experts say the impact of USDA’s cuts will pale compared to the proposed $230 billion in cuts to SNAP benefits. Formerly known as food stamps, SNAP helps about 41 million low-income Americans purchase food. Just over 888,000 Washington residents rely on it.
The SNAP program provides nearly 10 times the amount of food that local food banks do. Feeding America, a national food bank network, estimates that between July 2022 and June 2023, food banks and pantries provided 85,100,281 meals in Washington state. In that same period, SNAP provided an estimated 884,793,055 meals in Washington.
“There’s no way any state can backfill or come close to mitigating [that loss],” said Claire Lane, director of Washington’s Anti-Hunger and Nutrition Coalition. “I’ve done this work for a very long time. The idea of having SNAP cut so deeply is pretty unimaginable to me.”
If Congress does cut SNAP, food banks expect demand to increase, stretching their already thin supplies even further.
Food Lifeline’s Scott and Ballard Food Bank’s Muzia both said community support will be essential to offset the coming impacts, through donations of time, food and money and through lobbying federal lawmakers.
“We’re dealing with a manufactured crisis right now,” said Muzia. “We need to have the tools to address it. Otherwise, it’s hurting our community.”
