(Credit: Submitted/LevittownNow.com)
The Bucks County Opportunity Council is facing a significant loss of more than $260,000 in annual funding from the USDA's Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, according to a report from Bucks County Courier Times.
This program, designed to support local food systems and provide healthy food to communities, has allowed the council to purchase fresh food from local farmers and vendors for its network of food pantries and Fresh Connect farmers markets. Without this crucial funding, the BCOC may have to scale back its services, directly affecting the 56,570 food-insecure residents in Bucks County, according to the article.
This federal funding cut comes at a time when food insecurity is rising in the county. A recent report revealed that the percentage of food-insecure families in Bucks County jumped from 5% to 9% between 2021 and 2022, per the Bucks County Courier Times.
This marks the first increase in food insecurity since 2017. The surge is attributed to inflation, which has made grocery costs unaffordable for many residents, even as wages have remained stagnant. This growing need is putting pressure on local food assistance programs, per the report.
The USDA's cooperative agreement program, launched under the American Rescue Plan, aimed to improve food and agricultural supply chain resilience by enabling states to purchase food from local farms and vendors.
In Bucks County, the funding enabled the purchase of about 400,000 pounds of food in 2024, providing around 510,000 meals to those in need, according to the article. However, with the program’s funding cuts, both local residents and farmers are poised to feel the impact.
As BCOC grapples with the loss of these funds, Executive Director Erin Lukoss expressed concern about the challenge of fundraising to replace the lost revenue.
