Food Banks in Crisis: State Cuts and Federal Uncertainty

A perfect storm is brewing in Ohio's food security network. As state budget cuts loom and federal programs terminate, food banks across the Buckeye State face unprecedented challenges in meeting skyrocketing demand.

Jory Novotny, Executive Director of the Ohio Association of Food Banks, takes us behind the scenes of what she calls "Food Banking 101." The association, formed in 1991, serves as the backbone for 12 regional Feeding America food banks supporting 3,600 local pantries across all 88 Ohio counties. Through innovative programs like the Ohio Food Program and Agricultural Clearance Program, they've created a system that simultaneously addresses hunger while supporting local agriculture and preventing food waste.

But this carefully balanced ecosystem now faces serious threats. Governor DeWine's proposed budget includes a $7.5 million annual cut to state food programs, while the USDA has terminated the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program that connected food banks with 170 Ohio farmers and vendors. Meanwhile, although funding for programs like the Senior Box Program hasn't officially decreased, inflation means those same dollars buy significantly less food than before.

The numbers tell a sobering story: from July through December 2023, Ohio food banks served more visitors than during any comparable six-month period in nearly 35 years. Where they once provided 6-8 days worth of groceries per visit, they can now only offer about 5 days worth. Fresh produce, often the first casualty of budget constraints, has already disappeared from some distribution channels.

Beyond emergency food assistance, Novotny emphasizes the interconnectedness of hunger with other systemic issues like healthcare access. Many pantry visitors face impossible choices between affording food or medicine, highlighting why the association has expanded into healthcare outreach and "food as medicine" initiatives.

Want to help? Financial donations stretch furthest, but volunteering remains the backbone of the system. Perhaps most importantly, contact your elected officials about supporting food bank funding at both state and federal levels. After all, as Novotny reminds us: "Every person has to eat every day."

To support Ohio's food banks, visit ohiofoodbanks.org to connect with your regional food bank or local pantry for volunteer opportunities and donation information.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:05

Welcome to Central Ohio Matters, the podcast where we delve into the issues that shape Central Ohio's future. Each episode features in-depth conversations with local leaders, visionaries and changemakers driving progress in our region. These conversations offer insights into the challenges our communities face and the solutions being crafted to move them forward.

Meet Jory Novotny of Ohio Food Banks

Food Banking 101 Explained

Speaker 2 0:31

Here are your hosts, Michelle Gatchel and Ryan Rivers. Welcome everybody to Central Ohio Matters. We've got a great topic today that we're talking about food banks, and joining us is the Executive Director of the Ohio Association of Food Banks, Jory Novotny. Jory, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me, Michelle. You know, as we see all sorts of changes happening on the federal level, I was just curious if this is kind of trickling down to our food banks here, and so I thought I'd have you on and we could talk all about what you do, because I think a lot of people don't realize that you're the parent company to all of these little food banks all across Ohio, and how that works you know all together. So why don't we start with just talking about the basics, about what you do?

Speaker 3 1:15

Sure, I love doing a Food Banking 101. We can start there. At the Ohio Association of Food Banks, we were created by our members. We're a membership-based organization created by Ohio's 12 Feeding America food banks Back in. They came together in the late 80s talking about hey, we really need to have a unified voice at the state and federal level. We can do more together, right as many member networks do so. We were formally incorporated by them in 1991.

Speaker 3 1:46

Member networks do so. We were formally incorporated by them in 1991. And so we have proudly represented those food banks which are multi-county large warehouses right that service together about 3,600 different local food pantries, soup kitchens, hot meal programs, shelters and other supplemental feeding sites in all 88 counties in Ohio. So they're all part of our statewide hunger relief network. We're really proud to do that work. We consider ourselves to be a core part of the food supply chain, helping fill gaps for people that can't afford food on their own and also being partners in supporting agriculture, supporting food production, reducing food waste you name it so happy to dive in more with what that looks like. But yeah, we've collectively been responding to hunger and addressing gaps in access to food across the entire state of Ohio together since 1991.

Speaker 2 2:42

The Ohio Food Program is kind of like the overview program how currently? How is that funded?

Ohio's Food Programs and Funding

Speaker 3 2:51

Sure so food banks locally. I'm sure many of your, your listeners and viewers are familiar with local roundup campaigns and local food drives and ways that they've helped and participated in supporting their local food banks or maybe their local food pantries. And we've long been about securing donated product in every channel possible. So we work with private partners in retail in the grocery sector. Grocery sector we have food banks and food pantries that go to their local grocery stores to pick up close to code perishable product that might otherwise be wasted, to make sure it gets enjoyed by someone who couldn't afford it on their own. We work with manufacturers to rescue research and development, some of that R&D product that maybe doesn't have a first line market, to bring in excess product that doesn't have a market to sell. We raise private funding to source food and then we also partner with state and federal government to bring in additional food, make sure that there's nutritious food available for people facing hunger and again, also support our food supply chain. So one of the ways that we've done that for a very long time, since 1996 or so is our state-funded food purchase programs. They're the Ohio Food Program and Agricultural Clearance Program. We've had five gubernatorial administrations and more than a dozen general assemblies that have supported those programs over many budget cycles. So there's two components. The first is the Ohio Food Program cycles. So there's two components. The first is the Ohio Food Program. That's a bulk buying program where we're working together on a statewide basis to drive down our costs right, be really efficient about.

Speaker 3 4:34

Okay, there's a certain amount of staple products that we need to be able to count on but we can't always get through our other channels. What can we do? I'll give you a great example. We have a partner, keystone Meats, out of Lima, ohio. They're like a fifth generation family meat packing company. They source all their product from local Ohio producers and then package it in really wholesome canned protein products and they're able to sell to us at cost right. So they're not making anything off of us. But it helps them keep their workers on the line, keeps that plant running and flowing, which is good for their business and good for people facing hunger. So those are some of the products we bring in through that component.

Speaker 3 5:15

The other component is our agricultural clearance program. That's where we're looking for surplus or unmarketable product usually. A couple examples that I use to help explain this for folks maybe who aren't as familiar with some of the challenges in the food supply chain. Let's say that we have a really bumper apple crop and farmers have already spent a lot on their input costs to grow that crop and now they don't have as healthy of a crop for selling it at a first line market. But they still have this nutritious product out in the fields and for them to pay somebody just to go out and pick that product and package it to go somewhere isn't worth it if they don't have a market. So we help them just recover what they've already put in on inputs. We pay those picking and packing processing fees to then bring that perfectly nutritious food in off the fields and onto the tables of families facing hunger.

Federal Cuts and Local Impact

Speaker 3 6:10

Another example I use to help people understand right now I know everybody has the price of eggs on their minds given all of the heartache that our egg farmers are going through. But we have a long standing partnership with egg farmers in Ohio when they're bringing on new layers, those layers don't start laying large and extra large eggs, they actually start laying smalls and mediums and usually people shopping at instead of ending up in landfills. And we can also make sure that we're covering the costs that farmers are putting in when they're bringing those layers on. So that's how we try to work efficiently across the food supply chain system and across Ohio's agricultural industry to be partners on rescuing and preventing food waste and then also making sure people facing hunger have access to wholesome products. Some of these relationships, it sounds like go way back.

Speaker 3 7:14

How much volatility over the years have you seen with these food supply chains? Oh, we've seen growing volatility in the food supply chain, of course, and I think no one tuning in is unfamiliar with that issue. Tuning in is unfamiliar with that issue Going back to everything from input costs, like I mentioned. When we have we are a global food supply as well as a hyperlocal food supply, so we count on every part of that supply chain, everything from. If the cost of aluminum goes up because a tariff has been applied and ultimately that leads to higher costs for canning product, then we're going to see some of our staple goods that we count on costing us more. So how do we stretch dollars far enough to meet increased need? So we see volatility with.

Speaker 3 8:07

Farmers in particular are reliant on domestic and international markets, so you know they can. We can experience consumer price pressure and food supply chain pressure If we see any piece of those chains kind of get interrupted, everything from. You know we have a shortage of CDL drivers. It's harder to get food moving right Because the cost of that freight goes up. So there's always something going on. It feels like a lot of volatility and we just try to stay in tune with that and be good stewards and good partners as we figure that out together. We all need to be able to count on a reliant food supply chain, that's for sure.

Speaker 2 8:38

So has the state made budget cuts to the food pantries recently.

Speaker 3 8:45

Yeah, we saw Governor DeWine introduce his executive budget. So we're in the sort of six-month period or so where our state elected officials build and pass their two-year budget. They'll need to pass that budget by June 30th and it will go from July 1st of this year through June 30th of 2027. So the governor introduced his executive budget the first week of February or so and unfortunately it did include a cut in funding to the Ohio Food Program and Agricultural Clearance Program. We currently receive $32 million per year to support that program. The as-introduced budget included a $7.5 million per year cut, bringing us down to $24.55 million per year. So we are actively talking with our partners in the Ohio General Assembly about how to restore those cuts and hopefully find a little bit more funding to make up for the inflationary pressure that we're experiencing and the really high demand and high utilization of our services that we're experiencing.

Speaker 2 9:53

On the federal level, you know, we're seeing all sorts of headlines of different agencies getting major cuts, people laying off. How is that trickling down? Are you finding that you're getting cuts yourself?

Rising Demand, Fewer Resources

Speaker 3 10:06

Yeah, yeah, unfortunately, one program that we have been proud to operate in partnership with USDA in the state of Ohio and about 170 growers and farmers and food vendors we did find out late Friday afternoon has been terminated by the USDA. Usda that program is called the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, or LFPA. It was funded with a pot of money called the Commodity Credit Corporation. This is a fund that every administration has a little bit more license to spend as they see fit and utilize to support markets in a variety of ways. So the current agreement that we have on that program goes through June 30th.

Speaker 3 10:55

We'll be very proud to deliver on outstanding outcomes with our farmer network through June 30th and, frankly, we always knew that we were going to need to advocate for permanent funding authorization for that program because for it to have a long and reliable and healthy shelf life, to really support emerging farmers and more limited resource small and medium farmers, you know we need permanent funding authorization. We think we've built a really great track record on that program and we're excited, you know, to be able to talk about that opportunity to continue the program with Congress as they take back up the conversation around Farm Bill. But it is a really tight funding environment. All the signals coming from the federal government, of course, signal that there is an appetite for cutting spending in the Farm Bill and in the Department of Agriculture and that will have real world consequences for the people that we serve and for our ability to be there when they need us.

Speaker 2 12:01

So what does that look like? You know there's a food bank that gets 100 families a week, and part of that is fresh produce, part of it is canned and frozen. What's being cut in these cuts, if you will, of actual things to the people?

Speaker 3 12:18

on the street.

Speaker 2 12:19

So to speak.

Speaker 3 12:40

We have a small but important program that is funded in the Farm Bill and administered by the United States Department of Agriculture in partnership with the state of Ohio and then Ohio's food banks.

Speaker 3 12:46

It's called the Commodity Supplemental Food Program or we affectionately call it the Senior Box Program a monthly box of staple foods to about 30,000 or so seniors right now in Ohio who they are income eligible. They're very low income. Often these are seniors that are otherwise pretty isolated in their homes and we really believe like this is a pound of an ounce of prevention for a pound of cure, right, if we can keep food accessible and reliable for some of our lowest income seniors, we can keep them in their homes longer and reduce what we're spending on longer term healthcare costs and, you know, institutional based care. So it's a really great program. It's already not funded at the level that we would like to see it. We have wait lists for seniors who would love to get on the program but can't. But how that program works is USDA actually develops that menu of product that's in the box and then goes out and buys it, right, and then they ship the product to food banks and we recruit volunteers who then package all that product into these boxes, right? It's one of our favorite volunteer projects that our communities love participating in. Some of our food banks even home deliver those boxes to their local seniors.

Speaker 3 13:56

Now when I talk about cuts, there's not actually right now a cut in the dollar amount that is going to be appropriated to that program but, as we see, kind of three-month continuing resolutions go on without any adjustment to the dollar amount. Food costs more, so USDA is actually able to buy less food than it was a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, when that funding level was appropriated. Actually, that funding level goes back to the last farm bill. So we have been forecasted that we'll have to reduce caseload. We will have to remove seniors from that program because they can't buy the same amount of food for the same amount of money, right? So that's why that's one example of it won't necessarily seem like a cut, but it is functionally a cut in terms of how much food we can get to meet need.

How You Can Help

Speaker 3 14:50

Of course, we have other concerns about funding cuts. Right now Congress is going through a process of trying to move forward with budget reconciliation, so early indicators are that there is an interest in giving direction to the Department of Agriculture that it will be hard for appropriators to find enough savings without cutting benefits in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Snap provides about nine meals for every one meal that we're able to provide in our charitable hunger relief network. So I bring that up to because any loss of nutrition assistance through the SNAP program means more people will be coming to us for help and we're already stretched really thinly with food supply as it is.

Speaker 3 15:42

We have other federal programs like the Emergency Food Assistance Program or TFAP, which is our largest federal commodity program. Again, we were supposed to get additional product through TFAP, through Commodity Credit Corporation dollars from USDA, but some of those loads have recently been canceled. We're kind of waiting to see what's going to evolve and we hope that we can continue to work with our partners in Congress and in USDA to make sure that we support the food supply chain and families facing hunger.

Speaker 2 16:11

So my husband and I help fund a food bank and starting in February we noticed prices just were going up.

Speaker 2 16:21

Like we order food from the Mid-Ohio Food Collective for the 100 to 150 families that come through on a weekend, and then we heard that there's going to be no more fresh produce already this month it was no more fresh produce. So it seems like I don't know the trickle down and why these things are happening, but that it seems like even on our lower level we're seeing it and for us specifically I know that you know we, we've gone from, you know, four weekends to two weekends to we may have to go to one weekend a month, which is really going to affect the people in our area.

Speaker 3 17:01

Unfortunately, that is not unlike what our experience is statewide, so I'm going to walk through a little bit of like some of the additional relief that was available on both sides. So there was other additional relief for lower income families. That has since ended. Almost exactly two years ago we saw SNAP emergency allotments that were available during the pandemic end and then we immediately, month over month, saw more people coming to us more often, which you can imagine. We experienced higher food prices. Every single consumer that's buying food, as well as food pantries and food banks that are buying food to help feed people, have seen prices increase, increase, increase. At the same time that 1.5 million or so Ohioans that are poor enough to qualify for SNAP lost substantial benefits. So that has a direct impact on seeing more people in need and also, at the same time, we're seeing all this inflationary pressure month over month, not only on the cost of food but on the cost of many basic household costs that are pressuring families. So you, like many others, are seeing a lot of people who continue to be in need and less resources to help.

Healthcare Outreach and Future Concerns

Speaker 3 18:22

The state of Ohio put forward $40 million in total one-time funding through American Rescue Plan Act funds. So those were federal dollars that were available to states to relieve a variety of impacts of the pandemic and support recovery from the pandemic and we were able to bring in a lot more product. That funding was earmarked to bring in protein, dairy, fresh fruits and vegetables and some of those other shelf-st stable items and that has all since been spent and procured and distributed out to pantries, just like the one that you support. We've not had that product for about a year now. So this fiscal year has been back to $32 million to try and supply.

Speaker 3 19:11

About 20% of the food that we distribute statewide comes from that core state funding and having spent that $40 million to help people get through, that was incredibly needed relief and unfortunately we're seeing I'd love to hear if this is true for you statewide from July through December of 2024, we served more food pantry visitors in that six-month period than we had in any six-month period in nearly 35 years. So it's also that we have a lot of providers who are trying to do the best they can can and we don't have the food. We're giving out about five days worth of groceries on average to food pantry visitors right now statewide. That was more like six and a half to eight over the past seven years. Yeah, it's a really trying times right now.

Speaker 2 20:11

So for people listening, you know is it have your business, do a can drive? Is it collect money and donate it to a local food pantry? What can they do to help?

Speaker 3 20:24

Well, there's many ways that they can help. Of course, committed volunteerism will always be the backbone of how we continue to do this work, always be the backbone of how we continue to do this work. Yes, your generous donations matter. Food banks and food pantries have had to spend a lot more private resources to keep up. We've continued for a couple of years now to deficit spend to bring in more food to fill gaps. It's not sustainable to do that but it's important.

Speaker 3 20:56

Anyone who's financially able to chip in to help bring in more of that food, we're very grateful for it. You know, and I for any of your listeners who are maybe weren't sure, how some of the kind of current movement in in government might be impacted them or issues that they care about, definitely. Also, I always make sure that people understand, if they didn't already, a lot of the food that's available about half of the food usually that goes out through the statewide hunger relief network comes from partners in government. So it's state funded programs or federally funded programs, and when those programs don't have adequate funding, there is less food. So we also maximize those investments of public resources. That's why I'm so proud of this network and donors that partner with us with all of our retailers and manufacturers that work so well with us.

Speaker 3 21:56

We stretch it really far. But we can't fill every gap and we, especially if we want to have healthy center of the plate food, we really need that reliable partnership with state and federal government as well. It's a really a three-legged stool. So, folks, can, you know, contact their elected officials and let them know that at the state level, please support funding for the food bank programs, because that means food on the shelves for people and support for our local farmers and to their congressional members. You know, please pass a bipartisan farm bill that adequately funds programs that you know food banks and the people they serve are counting on.

Speaker 4 22:35

That adequately funds programs that you know food banks and the people they serve are counting on. Another area you're involved in is health care. Can you tell us about your health care outreach?

Speaker 3 22:49

Yeah, I mean we all. We know that hunger is a symptom of poverty. It's, you know, everything from an older adult got to their retirement age and now their fixed income isn't stretching to meet those basic needs because inflation has driven up everything that they need to afford, and so we're a stopgap for that to. You know, working families with kids. If they are working a job where they don't have paid sick leave and their kids out of school for a week because of the flu, how are they replacing that wage? You know we're there as a stopgap, but we don't want to just think about feeding people today. We want to be partners in thinking about what are the root causes of what's causing someone to come to us for help. How can we be part of more systemic solutions? So one of the ways that we do that is by connecting.

Speaker 3 23:37

We know that from studies and surveys that we've done that a lot of people coming to us for help with food are also making tough decisions between affording medicine and medical care. Maybe they're having a hard time making their contribution toward their premium. Maybe they aren't insured. We have a high percentage of uninsured folks that are working but can't afford the employer-provided coverage and really are in a tough gap situation. So that's why we got involved in access to affordable health care, because we know that if people have access to affordable health care and health coverage, they're less likely to need to come to us for help with food. So we do partner to do outreach and help people get connected to healthcare coverage, and we also think about ourselves as partners in driving access to food as medicine. We know that consistent access to nutritious food is a really important part of someone's short and long-term health outcomes, so we're also often working locally, regionally and statewide on levers to acknowledge that access to healthy food is a core part of delivering better health outcomes for every person.

Speaker 2 24:50

You know, with a new president a lot of things are changing. Is there any area that you believe is going to affect food banks more?

Speaker 3 24:59

So we're seeing some confusion and uncertainty around tariffs, and I know that affects different industries. But you know I'm really concerned about food supply, of course, and a farmer has to at least break even right to be able to stay in the job of producing food. And if they're uncertain about what their markets look like, they're more likely to consolidate or get out of the business, just in the same way that we are as helpers. And every person has to eat every day, every day. So I don't want to envision a world where they don't have a local pantry to be able to turn to when they need it, because I think that doesn't, that doesn't bode well for any of us. None of us want that.

Speaker 3 25:43

We're Americans who have long wanted to make sure that everybody has basic access to food. I think that's a core value. I mean food banks were born out of a faith-based desire to meet basic needs for people. I mean it's part of our identity and I think it's part of our cultural identity across the country, and I'm hopeful that we have real frank conversations about what kind of all the uncertainty and maybe disinvestment in proven programs is going to mean for every consumer. We're all counting on each other. I mean, if I want to go to my local grocery store, my local grocery store has to have enough people in the area that can afford to shop there to stay in business themselves. So if my neighbors, even if I, can afford the food, if my neighbors can't, that grocery store is less likely to be able to stay in business supplying food to me. Right, that's how interconnected every piece of the chain is and, yeah, I think we just need to keep having, you know, real frank conversations like this one to raise some more awareness about those concerns.

Speaker 4 26:51

If someone would like to volunteer their skills, who should they connect with?

Speaker 3 26:55

Well, we have a plethora of opportunities. This is the good news. If you're not sure where to start, you can go to ohiofoodbanksorg. We have a map of our food banks and again, those are the regional, like multi-county warehouses that help pantries get access to food and then provide training and technical assistance to those pantries. If you're not nearby one of your food banks, you can get in touch with your food bank and they can put you in touch with a local food pantry that would love to have your support as a volunteer. So don't hesitate to give us a call. We're always happy to make those connections and grateful for your generosity of your time.

Speaker 2 27:37

And the same thing goes with farmers. Like if there's a farmer listening right now that knows that they have an extra every season, who should they get in touch with?

Speaker 3 27:47

Thank you for asking. Yeah, we have a page on our website about our state-funded food programs with information for how you can reach out to our purchasing team. So again, if you go to ohiofoodbanksorg that's ohiofoodbanksorg you can get in touch with us. We're happy to talk with you and get you plugged into opportunities to rescue that product and make sure it's enjoyed.

Speaker 2 28:11

Okay, she gave us a lot to think about, and thank you for what you do and let us know how the funding fight is going.

Speaker 3 28:20

Well, thank you for the time and for you know being in conversation. It's really important. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 28:26

Thank you for listening to this episode of Central Ohio Matters. Be sure to like, share and download. We cover government policies, health care challenges, housing and business developments, transportation solutions, education and innovation. If you know of a good story we should be talking about, go to the radio station website and fill out a contact form Directed to Michelle Gatchel, host of Central Ohio Matters. Thank you,