This article was first published by the Yakima Herald-Republic.
OLYMPIA, WA – Cuts to U.S. Department of Agriculture food assistance programs could hit local farmers, food banks and their users at a time when more families are reliant on them.
Northwest Harvest CEO Thomas Reynolds has been tracking the situation closely.
Northwest Harvest is a statewide nonprofit that distributes goods to most food banks in Yakima County, and has 400 partners across the state. Since 2023, it has operated the Fruitvale Community Market in Yakima, a food pantry modeled after a grocery store and one of the largest food banks in the state.
Lately, the lines at Fruitvale Community Market have been much longer than usual, Reynolds told the Yakima Herald-Republic. The food bank is open three days a week. Last summer, it served about 750 households on the days it was open, a number that’s now grown to 1,300 households.
“That’s a really strong indicator that household budgets are being constrained by the increased cost of rent, of fuel, of food and of health care,” Reynolds said.
The federal funding situation is changing each day, he said.
“It’s just a dynamic situation right now,” Reynolds said. He does not believe a complete federal cut would happen, as too many constituents rely on these programs.
If there was a complete cut, “every food bank overnight would have to quadruple what they’re doing just to meet the gap,” he said.
Reynolds said Northwest Harvest is preparing for a wide range of scenarios. While the organization does not rely on federal funding to operate, many of its partners do. Northwest Harvest depends on donations of money and food, and has some state support.
Farmers and harvest
Adding to the situation, and his worries, are concerns about potential labor shortages during the upcoming harvest season and tariffs impacting farmers’ bottom line, which might lower produce donations to Northwest Harvest.
Northwest Harvest has increased its budget for purchasing food in case less food is donated, he said.
“The growers, the orchardists, the ranchers in the Yakima Valley are some of the most generous people in Washington state,” Reynolds said.
About 70% of the foods the organization distributes across the state are fruits and vegetables, most of which are grown near Yakima, he said. It also receives local beef, dairy, eggs and will trade some of its apples for other in-demand goods it can’t get locally, like citrus fruit.
He’s also concerned about how the terminations of USDA research positions might impact the future of American agriculture.
Senator’s perspective
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat who represents Washington state, lambasted the Trump administration for funding cuts in a news conference on April 10. She said $1.6 billion in funds that help food banks, public school students and local farmers have been cut nationwide.
The USDA’s Local Food for Schools program awards funds to schools to buy local produce; the Local Food Purchase Assistance program helps states, tribes and territories buy local food for food banks; and the Emergency Food Assistance Program provides food assistance to people with low incomes.
All are facing cuts. Around $25 million would have gone to Washington state alone, she said.
“Right now, some of the richest and most powerful men in the world are stealing food from our kids,” Murray said.
Joining Murray was Cal Coblentz, CEO of Partners Inland Northwest, a food bank in Spokane. Coblentz said that at least a quarter of households in Washington need some kind of food assistance, according to studies by the state Department of Agriculture.
That increased from just one in seven in 2021, he said. In some areas, up to 70% of households with children might need food assistance.
So far, 23 school districts have withdrawn from the Local Food from Schools program because they don’t have money in their budgets to make up for the federal funding shortfall, according to Murray’s office. The program helps get fresh food to around 850,000 students in Washington state, the senator said.
On the farm
The Local Food Purchase Assistance program and the Emergency Food Assistance Program also saw cuts of $500 million each nationwide, she said. USDA Farm to School grants also were canceled, which help food purchasing programs as well as field trips and school gardens.
“These programs support American farmers by buying their products,” Murray said.
Cutting the programs hurt the domestic market at a time when the international market is in flux with proposed tariffs, she said.
“It’s almost as if their plan is to hammer farmers as hard as they can,” Murray said.
Haley Olsen-Wailand, a farmer who grows organic vegetables on the Olympic Peninsula, said last year was the best year financially in her family’s 22 years of growing. But now, she has major concerns about the future with the federal cuts.
She said just under 20% of her farm’s gross sales came from sales to food banks, spurred directly by Local Food Purchase Assistance program funds, she said.
A grocery store might not want curved cucumbers, but food banks will buy them.
“As a farmer, having a market for secondary vegetables and fruits is very valuable,” she said.
Local schools were starting to make more meals from scratch using local produce because of the programs.
“We were excited by the idea that we had an expanding local market,” she said. “In our industry, new markets are few and far between.”
Now she’s not as confident.
“We put these seeds in the ground, and it’s months before we harvest them. We need to know where they are going, she said. “Losing these markets is a really big blow to us right as our costs are rising.”
Questen Inghram is a Murrow News Fellow at the Yakima Herald-Republic. Email qinghram@yakimaherald.com or call 509-577-7674.
Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Bill Lucia for questions: info@washingtonstatestandard.com.
