photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Just Food's home at 1000 E. 11th St. is pictured Friday, March 24, 2023.

The leader of a Lawrence food bank said the cancellation of two federal programs that allow the purchase of food from local farmers will be “detrimental” for local families in need.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday canceled a pair of programs — the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program — that gave schools and food banks federal money to buy food from local farmers. The programs were discontinued for the year because they “no longer effectuate the goals of the agency,” the USDA said in a statement.

The cancellation meant the cutting of around $1 billion in federal spending between the two programs across 40 participating states, with $550 million of that going to food banks.

Aundrea Walker, the executive director for Just Food, said via email that although her nonprofit doesn’t contract directly through the federal government with this program, one of its partners, Harvesters Community Food Network, does. Through that, Walker said the food bank received a “substantial amount of locally grown” food in that partnership, so the cancellation of the program will reduce that amount.

“This will be detrimental for families in need across Douglas County for those who have utilized the locally grown food given to us through the growing season in our partnership with Harvesters,” Walker said.

The cancellation of the programs comes at a time when food insecurity has been high in the county. In 2024, Just Food served 12,460 unique individuals at its location at 1000 E. 11th St., helping 5,747 unique households.

Although those numbers are lower than in 2023, when Walker told the Journal-World at the time the need was “astonishing,” the nonprofit’s website said it serves around 300-600 local families every day through its partnerships with local schools and other organizations. Recently, the nonprofit partnered with Lawrence Transit on a program that distributes food at the city’s Central Station, as the Journal-World reported.

Stopping the federal program can mean a smaller supply of food for the organization, potentially limiting the nonprofit’s ability to help struggling families, Walker said.

“Cutting LFPA doesn’t just take food off the table; it takes security, dignity and nutrient dense food away from families in need,” Walker said.

Ending the program also hits local producers. Walker said the partners who sold food to the food banks through the program will lose out on those buyers, which has greater ripple effects in the community.

“It will not only affect our ability to feed families but it is going to affect local farmers who participate in the program … in turn weakening our local farmers and economy,” Walker said.