The Trump Administration cancelled a $13 million contract for food aid in March.
Now, U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan is trying to pass new legislation to support food banks, farmers and lay the groundwork for the next nationwide agricultural bill, which he called ‘Farm Bill 2.0.’
The U.S. Farm Bill is a package of agricultural bills that range from supporting farmers to running the food stamps or the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).
“This is a very pragmatic, common sense piece of legislation. It's about supporting our local farmers. It's supporting our families in need,” Bresnahan (R-Luzerne County) said during a Wednesday morning appearance at Brace's Orchard in Franklin Township.
The freshman congressman held a roundtable with farmers and food assistance workers at the family-run orchard. He pitched his bill, the Local Farmers Feeding our Communities Act, and said if passed, it would aid agricultural workers who lost Local Food Purchasing Assistance (LFPA) funding and prioritize small businesses.
Local Food Purchasing Assistance was an U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program that subsidized the cost for food banks to purchase produce from local farmers. Gov. Josh Shapiro's administration sued USDA in June for terminating its contract.
But Julie Bancroft, CEO of Feeding Pennsylvania said the program was vital for food banks. She said it made up somewhere between 12% to 18% of food banks’ food purchasing budgets across the state.
“That's significant, especially for rural communities [and] communities with just one food bank. That's where we're seeing the largest impacts, and that's where the farmers are going to really feel it too,” Bancroft said.
What’s in Bresnahan’s food and farm bill?
Bresnahan said his bill would provide small farms “a lifeline … predictability and … stability.” He said it would act as a salve to the removal of the Local Food Purchasing program and does not include legislation on SNAP.
The bill authorizes USDA to spend $200 million per year towards a program that connects food banks to farmers, but does not yet include information on what that program would look like.
“Right now, the first step in the process is to get it (a cooperative program between states, farmers and food banks) reinvigorated and get it back onto the docket. So, we're … trying to solve for the problem of just having it completely eradicated and trying to incorporate it into the Farm Bill,” Bresnahan said.
Bresnahan said the bill will differ from the Local Food Purchasing program by incorporating healthy eating initiatives and limiting the range food in the program can travel from a farm to a food bank to less than 400 miles. That second provision applies more to states that — unlike Pennsylvania — do not have robust agricultural industries.
“Agriculture is a huge part of our existence,” Bresnahan said.
He said agriculture accounts for $65 million in yearly revenue in Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, which he represents. The district encompasses all of Wayne, Pike and Lackawanna counties, including parts of Luzerne and Monroe counties. About 95% of the district’s farms are family-owned.
The new program would also require that a quarter of all purchased products from farmers would be from small and mid-sized producers.
Sustainable agriculture in Pennsylvania
Several speakers said the bill would help stabilize Pennsylvania’s agricultural economy by investing in local farms.
Bresnahan said it would give farmers financial backing to manage industry risks like poor weather conditions.
“The cost of production has increased [and] the cost of fertilizer [has increased]. Everyone is always one storm away from bankruptcy, in essence. So, hopefully this will be one step in the right direction,” Bresnahan said.
Jennifer Warabak, executive director of Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank and the Commission of Economic Opportunity, said the program would support farmers’ continued efforts to feed Pennsylvanians in need. The Jenkins Township-based food bank serves Luzerne, Lackawanna, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties.
She said Brace’s gave the food bank 55,000 pounds of produce last year.
Ninth-generation farmer Logan Brace said he wants to see Bresnahan’s bill become law so he has financial support to provide quality food to families in need.
His uncle, farmer Jerry Mancinelli, said the bill would ensure that families who rely on SNAP — still colloquially known as food stamps — can afford healthy food.
“[Food stamps] recipients … need to make a choice when they're purchasing food at their snack market. Can I afford that item? Sometimes, the healthy foods take a back seat. So that's where this [bill] really comes into play,” Mancinelli said.
He said families should not be ashamed if they need support from food banks. He also said he believes the program would lower families’ Medicaid costs by helping them access healthy food.
Bresnahan on SNAP, future of farm bill
Bresnahan’s agricultural bill does not, as noted, include anything on SNAP, but he did vote in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which makes significant cuts to food stamps. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that 3 million people will lose their benefits.
Congress failed to pass a new U.S. Farm Bill for two years in a row. The bill expired in 2023 and lawmakers’ inaction limits Pennsylvania’s ability to pass its own new version of the state’s Farm Bill.
Speakers at Wednesday’s event also pushed for state lawmakers to pass Pennsylvania’s 2025 budget to free up state-level agricultural funding. The budget is nearly two months overdue.
