U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) convened a roundtable with food bank officials, who recently lost USDA funding for a program allowing them to buy fresh food from NM producers. (Photo courtesy the office of U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján)
New Mexico Democratic U.S. Sens. Ben Ray Luján and Martin Heinrich, along with 30 of their colleagues on Tuesday wrote to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in response to the department’s cancellation of $1 billion in funding for programs connecting farmers with food banks and schools.
As Source NM reported on Monday, New Mexico had been slated to receive $2.8 million through the The Regional Farm to Food Bank program for the next three-year cycle. The state learned earlier this month the program, which officials said has spent more than $3.6 million with local producers since it began in 2021, will end at the end of this funding cycle in June.
In the letter, Luján, who serves on the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, and others request the department reverse the decision to end the the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which funded the RF2FB, as well as the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, which funds states to purchase local food products for schools and child care institutions. Regarding the latter, The Food Depot Executive Director Jill Dixon told Source New Mexico did not have that program set up yet, so the cancelation is ” a loss of opportunity rather than the loss of an existing program.” Nonetheless, she noted, “both are very significant.”
In their letter, the senators request Rollins provide information about the status of reimbursements through both programs, as well as any assessment of the impacts the cancellations will have. They also urge her to reverse the decision, writing: “We have grave concerns that the cancellation…poses extreme harm to producers and communities in every state across the country. At a time of uncertainty in farm country, farmers need every opportunity to be able to expand market access for their products.”
Read the full letter here.
Luján on Monday held a roundtable at the Roadrunner Food Bank. He talked about the funding cancelations to Source in advance of that event, noting that “the Regional Farm to Food Bank program was an essential program that was agreed to in a bipartisan way over the last few years, understanding the need across America when it came to access to food and the problem with hunger. When these programs are severed or eliminated, it just makes it harder for everyone.”
In a news release following the round table, Luján said: “The Musk-Trump funding freeze and broad and indiscriminate firings across the federal government have devastated communities across America, leaving countless families uncertain where their next meal would come from. Food banks across New Mexico ensure families in need have access to nutritious meals. But now, Elon Musk, President Trump, and Congressional Republicans are threatening critical funding for nutrition support – putting New Mexico families at risk.”