An East St. Louis food pantry has already seen its shipments of fresh produce from Illinois farmers cut by more than half after the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut a program last month meant to connect farmers and pantries.
The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which reimburses states for purchasing produce from farmers as a way to “improve food and agricultural supply chain resiliency.” But the Trump administration ended the funding, calling it “non-essential.”
The Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood House’s food pantry used to get 12 to 13 pallets per week through Illinois Eats, the state’s initiative supported by the USDA program. Since March, it's received only four or five, said Sarah Brown, the pantry’s supervisor.
“With the cuts being made, it’s really jeopardizing the lives in the community that we service,” Brown said.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, said the moves have hurt pantries like Lessie Bates Davis and farmers who’ve been selling their produce to the state programs.
“That is a step backwards, as far as I'm concerned,” Durbin said at the pantry on Monday.
The East St. Louis pantry serves roughly 1,000 people per week, Brown said. Roughly one-third of the city’s population is in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“It is a concern because a lot of people here are below poverty level, and this is the only thing that they can get,” Brown said.
This food pantry may be the only place community members have for fresh produce, Brown said, because the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, whose benefits were known as food stamps prior to 2008, doesn’t cover everyone.
The pantry will never turn people away, Brown said. She and the staff will always make sure there’s something for those who need it.
“We'll be getting more people,” Brown said. “We're just not getting more products.”
For Durbin, the elimination of the programs comes at a bad time, with grocery prices remaining high and some economists, Democrats and Republicans worrying that President Donald Trump’s tariffs could only make the problem worse.
“The whole situation that we face now is worrisome because families have been concerned about the cost of eggs and food at the grocery store,” he said. “It hasn't gotten any better under this president. It's going to get worse if we face a recession.”
To get these programs back, Durbin said it would only take four or five Republicans in both chambers of Congress to vote with Democrats.
“I'm pleading with my colleagues to do what I've done,” Durbin said. “Come home, talk to people who are really struggling to feed their families. Tell me that we can't do better. I know we can.”
