GRAND RAPIDS, MI —Food banks across Michigan are being squeezed after the U.S. Department of Agriculture canceled $4.3 million worth of emergency food — roughly 2 million meals — for low-income households.
Here’s a look at who would have received the food, how food banks are coping with the cut, and why the USDA says it canceled the deliveries.
Food banks MLive spoke with say they can still serve residents despite the cuts, as the Emergency Food Assistance Program makes up just a portion of their overall supply. However, food banks are scrambling to replace the lost food, with some turning to donors or their own bank accounts.
The food was distributed through the USDA’s Emergency Food Assistance Program, which was created in 1981 to reduce federal food surpluses and help low-income families.
The cut to the Emergency Food Assistance Program comes after the Trump administration earlier this month axed two “pandemic-era” programs that provided $1 billion in food assistance nationwide to schools and food banks.
Where would the 2 million meals have gone?
Phil Knight, executive director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan, didn’t have exact figures for how the meals would be distributed. But he estimated they would have been doled out as follows:
- Food Bank of Eastern Michigan – Flint: 399,000 meals
- South Michigan Food Bank – Battle Creek: 150,000 meals
- Greater Lansing Food Bank – Bath Township: 150,000 meals
- Feeding America West Michigan – Kentwood: 462,000 meals
- Forgotten Harvest – Oak Park: 400,000 meals
- Food Gatherers – Ann Arbor: 56,000 meals
- Gleaners – Detroit: 483,000 meals
Together, the seven food banks serve all of Michigan’s 83 counties.
When was the food canceled?
The Food Bank Council of Michigan announced the food was in jeopardy of being canceled on March 6. At the time, the council said it had been notified the food deliveries were designated as “return to AMS,” meaning they were at a high risk of being canceled.
On March 25, the council said it was notified the orders had officially been canceled.
Why were the orders canceled?
Knight, the executive director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan, said the USDA hasn’t provided a reason for the canceled deliveries.
“We don’t know why,” he said. “We just know what is.”
When asked about the cuts, a USDA spokesperson told MLive the “Biden Administration created unsustainable programming and expectations using the Commodity Credit Corporation.” The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) is one of three funding streams for the Emergency Food Assistance Program.
The other two are called Section 32 Bonus and Entitlement. CCC funds are controlled by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, while other funds for the Emergency Food Assistance Program are approved by Congress and included in the farm bill.
The USDA spokesperson said other money is being provided for The Emergency Food Assistance Program despite the cancelation of the CCC funds.
“Regardless, USDA continues to purchase food for TEFAP, with over $166 million spent in FY 2025 to date for program requirements,” the spokesperson said. “USDA also is using Section 32 purchases to support TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program), purchasing over $300 million in various poultry, fish, fruits, vegetables, and tree nuts. USDA recently approved an additional $261 million in Section 32 purchases to provide even more fruits, vegetables, and tree nuts to TEFAP.”
What’s the impact of the cuts?
Food banks aren’t at risk of running out of food, Knight said. However, the canceled orders are a burden for food banks.
“Is this significant? Yes, it is significant,” he said. “Because this is food we were counting on between April and August, and now it’s not coming. So we have no runway here.”
Food banks will likely turn to donors or dig into their pockets to replace the missing meals, Knight said.
What are regional food banks saying?
For several food banks, the cuts are a headache but not a crisis. Residents in need of food can still show up and get meals.
Peter Vogel, CEO of the Southern Michigan Food Bank, which serves an eight-county region that includes Kalamazoo, Jackson and Battle Creek, said he estimates his food bank would have got about 400,000 pounds of food.
That equates to about 3% to 4% of all the food Southern Michigan Food Bank gave out last year.
“This is a hard hit, there’s no doubt. I can’t replace 400,000 pounds of food. I don’t know where I’d get it,” Vogel said. “But 3% to 4% isn’t earth shattering for us.”
Others felt a bigger sting.
Eileen Spring, president and CEO of Food Gatherers in Washtenaw County, said the Emergency Food Assistance Program accounted for 15% of the food her food bank distributes annually.
“It’s very significant,” she said. “We’ve been struggling to rise to the demand really since the pandemic, and so we are now distributing 10 million pounds of food annually to our network. We are actively seeking a way to make up for that gap in poundage. That’s hard to do quickly.”
Spring said Food Gatherers will dig into its funding reserve to replace the lost food. That’s something her organization can absorb in the “short term,” she said. But, looking forward, if the funds are permanently canceled, it will be tough to replace them on an ongoing basis, she said.
“We always have six-month operating reserves because things happen,” she said. “So we can do it for the short term through our fiscal year, but we will have to replace those resources with either food or funds.”
Kristin Sokul, a spokesperson for Gleaners, a food bank based in Detroit that serves a five-county region in southeast Michigan, said her food bank is expecting a 1.4-million-pound food shortfall this year because of the USDA cuts.
“If left unfilled, that would mean we would be able to serve 25,000 fewer households this year,” she said. “That’s why we’re increasing our fundraising, cutting our expenses and investing $250,000 of our own reserves to help our partners buy food so we can ensure households across Southeast Michigan have access to balanced nutrition.”
Impact in West Michigan
Ken Estelle, president and CEO of Feeding America West Michigan, said his organization lost about 600,000 pounds of food because of the USDA cancelation.
He said he’s turning to donors and other sources to replace the lost food, including Feeding America West Michigan’s bank account.
“To buy part of that food to replace it, I need to come up with $180,000,” he said. “We’re committed to make sure people have food. I don’t want people to panic.”
What was in the canceled food orders?
Food included in the canceled orders was comprised of staples such as boneless chicken breast, pulled pork, eggs, shredded cheese, turkey breast, and chicken leg quarters, according to the Food Bank Council of Michigan.
Looking forward
While food banks say they will find a way to cope with the canceled food deliveries, they’re worried other about other cuts in the future.
If the economy hits a recession and more people find themselves out of work, they expect to see demand spike. The same would be true if the federal government cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, Knight said.
Knight emphasized he’s not aware of any proposal to cut SNAP benefits.
But as the Trump administration makes sweeping cuts across the federal government, it’s a concern some are raising.
“All that’s going to do is lengthen lines at food banks,” he said, speaking about a hypothetical cut to SNAP benefits.
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