Local school districts react to USDA funding cuts

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Two programs totaling over $1 billion in federal funding have been cut by the U.S Department of Agriculture.

One of them is the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, which provided around $660 million in funding for schools across the U.S to buy food from local farmers.

Calcasieu Parish Schools received $100,000 in funding through the Local Food for Schools Program to purchase foods from local farmers.

While cuts to the program won’t affects schools' ability to feed students, Calcasieu Schools Nutrition Program Director Jacqueline Richard says it will reduce the amount of locally-sourced products they serve.

Over the past two years, they’ve used the funding to purchase food like cucumbers, strawberries, satsumas, ground beef and rice from Louisiana farmers.

“We used all the funds that we had available. We used them well. We built relationships with local farmers, and local vendors, and we’re really proud of the work we did to bring local foods to our students in Calcasieu,” Richard said.

Richard says they’ve made the local purchases an educational experience for students, helping them connect the dots between the food on their plate to what’s planted in the ground.

“Not having those funds means we have to make different decisions about the things that we’re going to purchase locally or the things we’re going to purchase outside of Louisiana. We will continue to purchase some local foods, but not all of them. We’ll have to make some decisions through our other vendors that can give us prices that are a little bit lower than what we were able to get locally,” she said.

Allen Parish Child Nutrition Program Supervisor April Hall says in a statement she viewed the IFS funds as short-term extra funds, saying they were used to support the Louisiana seafood and produce industry and treat students to foods they may not eat often at home.

With the IFS funding, Allen parish schools were able to serve Louisiana gulf shrimp and catfish to students six times over an 18-month time span.

Vernon Parish and Jeff Davis Parish Parish officials say they are not yet sure how losing the program will affect their district.

We’ve not heard back from Beauregard and Cameron parishes.