As the Trump Administration works to slash federal spending, the USDA has cut more than $1 billion in funding from two programs: one sourcing produce for schools, and another for food banks, called The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).
The Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, which distributes food to local pantries, opened a large warehouse in Montgomery last year to increase its capacity in the Hudson Valley. CEO Tom Nardacci says a single tractor-trailer from the USDA contains 35,000 pounds of food. The food bank typically receives 200 trucks a year, but thanks to increased TEFAP funding under the Biden Administration, it saw more than 400 trucks in 2024. That’s more than 14 million pounds of food, sourced from farms across the country by the USDA.
On Monday, however, the shelves in Montgomery looked pretty bare. Nardacci says they’ve already seen 27 shipments cancelled as result of the recent cuts to TEFAP.
“That’s the food that agencies want, that pantries want, that people want — because it’s first-rate, high quality, right-from-the-farm, right-from-the-distributor food," he says. "Stuff we already ordered. So, this isn’t future, this isn’t down the road. This is right now."
Nardacci says food insecurity has spiked since the COVID-19 pandemic. The food bank distributed a total of 54 million pounds of food last year — its busiest year, behind 2020. A recent poll by Siena College and SUNY New Paltz found six in 10 households are currently living paycheck-to-paycheck in Ulster, Sullivan, Dutchess and Orange Counties alone.
New York Congressman Pat Ryan, a Democrat from the 18th District, says this is a clear example of how cuts in federal funding are hitting close to home. He invited a bipartisan group of lawmakers to the Montgomery warehouse to hear from Nardacci and farmers like Jeff Crist. Crist owns Crist Orchards in Walden. He says TEFAP is not only good for food banks — it’s good for business.
“Our farm ships about 24,000 pounds of apples to this facility that we grow in Orange and Ulster Counties. And that’s every month," says Crist. "[These cuts] will negatively impact farmers across the country.”
Nardacci says New York may be able to partially plug the gap. Governor Kathy Hochul has proposed universal free school meals as part of her 2026 budget, which lawmakers are still negotiating.
But Nardacci says it's unlikely the state can fund the up to 7 million additional pounds of food it expected from the federal government this year. The food bank does a lot to source food on its own, including “rescuing” food tossed by local grocery stores, but Nardacci says it’s not enough.
“We deserve to know what the plan is, because we’re doing it all. My staff is so tired. It has been non-stop since COVID," he adds. "We’re up at night. 3 o’clock in the morning, you wake up thinking about it. And we just need to know some level of certainty.”
Ryan says the USDA cuts will amount to roughly 2 million meals denied to residents in the 18th District.
Assemblymember Brian Maher, a Republican from the 101st District who previously served as town supervisor of Montgomery, says hunger should not be a partisan issue. He says he’s reached out to his fellow Republicans to urge the government to restore the funding.
“My talking points to those that will listen to me at the federal level in the administration, and those that are in Congress, is when you make cuts, you can’t just take an ax," says Maher. "There needs to be more precision. Because every cut in funding that you make, it does have a multiplier effect that, down the road, will cost us more money in the long run.”
As for Ryan, he says there are multiple avenues Congress can take to make the USDA to reinstate the funding, but they all require at least three majority House Republicans to get on board.
"The money’s already appropriated. They literally just need to turn it back on. There’s no Congressional action required, it’s just putting pressure on the administration to do what they’ve already been directed by Congress to do," says Ryan. "But right now the Congress is totally just lockstep behind the president and not — I think in a very unhealthy way — not doing their constitutional duty of checks and balances.”
