Article By Andrew Bahl for The Cap Times
Wisconsin food banks are facing uncertainty, with the federal government rolling back food shipments and programs meant to fight hunger nationally at the same time more people are asking local organizations for help.
Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin, which serves the south-central and southwest parts of the state, is still evaluating how much its supplies will be affected by cuts to the Emergency Food Assistance Program. That program provides food assistance to low-income residents via distributors across Wisconsin.
Officials at Second Harvest caution that any cuts to federally backed food distribution are dangerous because of the steep rise in need for services. The food bank serves thousands of households via 300 partner agencies, such as food pantries.
“Any changes mean less money in the hands of our Wisconsin farmers and local economy, and less food on the table of our neighbors facing hunger,” said Michelle Orge, president and CEO of Second Harvest. “Less food coming in means more different sources that we have to look for, and those are likely going to be sources that cost us.”
Two other Wisconsin food banks — Hunger Task Force and Feeding America of Eastern Wisconsin — have reported they were told by state officials that they would see cuts of over $2 million combined for food deliveries scheduled for this summer.
“We will continue to do everything we can to ensure our neighbors have the nutrition they need to thrive,” Patti Habeck, president and CEO of Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, said in a statement.
Cuts to the emergency food program are focused on shipments funded by the Commodity Credit Corporation, a financing arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture intended to stabilize commodity prices and farm income. The agency buys food from farmers and then distributes it to food banks or, in some cases, allows farmers and food banks to work together directly.
Commodity Credit Corporation finances $1 billion in food deliveries, which accounts for much of the food distributed via the emergency program.
At Second Harvest, between 5% and 10% of the food distributed in a given month comes from the emergency program, accounting for around 200,000 pounds of food.
The organization does not track how much of those food deliveries are backed by the federal financing agency. But the cuts come on top of the elimination of other anti-hunger programs as part of President Donald Trump’s remaking of the federal government.
In early March, the USDA said it planned to cut $1 billion in funding for two other programs that pay farmers for food distributed to schools and food banks. One of those programs, Local Food Purchase Assistance, generated $4 million in food and worked with nearly 300 Wisconsin farmers, according to Gov. Tony Evers’ office.
The federal government also eliminated a Wisconsin program created to work with local farmers to improve the resiliency of the state’s food supply chain.
A USDA spokesperson said in an email that the “Biden Administration inflated statutory programs with Commodity Credit Corporation dollars without any plans for long-term solutions” and tied the increased spending to the pandemic.
The agency distributed $500 million nationwide for food assistance programs last month, the spokesperson said, noting Wisconsin had received an extension for spending its share of the money.
“Plainly, (Wisconsin) received a lot of money and needs time to spend it,” the unidentified spokesperson said in an email to the Cap Times.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and others have urged the Trump administration to rethink the cuts. Even Republican members of Congress have said they would like to continue to ensure the programs are robustly funded, though they have said the food assistance initiatives need to be authorized by Congress, not the president.
The anti-hunger group Feeding America estimates that 617,790 people in Wisconsin are dealing with food insecurity at any given time, and those numbers are growing.
Prior to the pandemic, Second Harvest was distributing anywhere from 500,000 to 750,000 pounds of food across its 16-county service area. During the pandemic, that shot up to as much as 1.5 million pounds per month, something Orge said was “a challenge.”
Now, the organization is pushing out an average of 2 million pounds per month. The 2024 fiscal year was the busiest in Second Harvest’s history and 2025 is on track to continue that trend.
“There is no playbook for this,” Orge said. “We’re keeping our eye on everything. We’re listening, we’re talking to folks. But we don’t know what’s coming next. And the things we thought would never happen are happening.”
Andrew Bahl is a politics reporter for the Cap Times. Andrew writes about Wisconsin politics with a focus on state government and elections. Email story ideas and tips to Andrew at abahl@captimes.com or call (608) 252-6418.
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