Calls-USDA-DISSION-TO Cut-Food-Assistance-PROGRAMS-LOS Angeles Times

Governor Gavin Newsom sent an urgent appeal to the American Department of Agriculture on Saturday, imploring the ministry to reverse the abrupt cancellation of a Biden era program which feeds millions of Californian families and has served as a rescue buoy for hundreds of small farmers since its creation in 2021.

“The irrational and malicious reduction of funds will not only harm our farmers, but also to families who need food banks,” Newsom said in a statement announcing the appeal.

California’s letter of appeal Department of Social Services has qualified the “illegal” move and said it should be canceled.

The USDA program began to distribute subsidies to states and tribal governments in 2022, with the aim of decentralizing and diversifying food supply chains after the tension of the pandemic.

Since concluding its agreement with the federal government, spring, California has received 88.5 million dollars in programs, which it trains through food banks and other aid programs to buy food from local (and) socially disadvantaged farmers “. The state had to receive additional $ 47 million this year.

Instead, the USDA announced in March that it eliminated the program. The agency did not immediately answer questions about the decision.

The money that had already been allocated and was supposed to pay until 2026 was briefly frozen, leaving the farmers who did not know what seeds sowing in their planting season, said Becky Silva, director of government relations for California Assn. food banks.

This funding has since been restored, but no new money is coming, said Silva.

This decision left many farmers in shock.

“The farmers constantly call me on what will happen,” wrote Ken Vang de Fresno Bipoc Produce, as part of the call. “Farmers have planted several cultures only for the program because the program meant income guaranteed for them. Now they fear that their cultures have no house. ”

Others feared that their farms would be underlying without the government program.

“Not only is the lack of income devastating for our farm, but it brings massive uncertainty to the future of agriculture for our family,” wrote Mariela Buenrosro from Raul & Family Farms to Riverside.

Since the USDA program finances local farmers to cultivate crops specifically for food banks, its elimination will also reduce what security net programs can offer at a time when more Californians are facing food insecurity and hunger.

“This is a huge loss,” said Becky Silva, director of government relations for California Assn. Food banks, which obtained more than $ 22 million from the state allowance last year. “It’s a really intimidating moment for food banks.”

More than a quarter of Californian families with children had trouble keeping food on the table in September, the last month for which data is available. At the start of the program, this number was 30%.

“If you ask food banks in California, they share part of the highest demand they have ever seen,” said Silva. “The Community Action Partnership of the County of Kern notes a 150% increase in the lines of their food distribution centers.”

USDA’s discounts have struck at the same time as Sacramento reduces the Cal Foods program, which provides food banks and should fall to $ 8 million, compared to $ 60 million in June.

The tightening of the states and federal belt strikes aid programs in the midst of generalized food inflation. In February, the last month for which federal data is available, the prices of the grocery store in Los Angeles were 2.5% higher than a year earlier. In March, the USDA predicted that “home food” prices would increase an additional 2.7% in the United States by the end of 2025.

These predictions did not take into account the raft of new prices that began to take effect last week. Economists expect them to further increase the price of food.

“The USDA has failed to provide a reasoned explanation for unilateral termination … suggesting that its actions are arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion,” wrote deputy director Alexis Fernandez Garcia in the letter of appeal from the California Ministry of Social Services. “(He) must be reversed.”