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Food prices in the U.S. remain stubbornly high, having grown by more than 20% since the start of the pandemic, outpacing inflation.

Now hunger relief organizations warn a potential shutdown of the federal government could mean disruptions and delays for Ohioans who rely on federal aid through SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as Food Stamps.

Joree Novotny is executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks.

The executive budget proposal would reduce funding for foodbanks by $7.5 million per fiscal year even as foodbanks are experiencing “record high utilization,” Ohio Association of Foodbanks (OAF) Executive Director Joree Novotny told the House Finance Committee this week.

“We respectfully request the restoration of this $7.5 million per year cut and additional funding of $4.93 million per year, for a total investment of $36.98 million per fiscal year in the 2026-27 state biennial budget. Foodbanks saw an average year-over-year increase in utilization of about 10 percent from 2020 to 2023, and then this rate accelerated significantly in the 2024-25 biennium,” Novotny said.

“From July to December 2024, we provided take-home groceries to more than 8.2 million food pantry visitors in six months, or nearly 1.4 million visitors per month,” she continued. “That represents a 64.71 percent increase in households with children compared to 2019, and a 70.32 percent increase in the number of seniors compared to 2019. In fact, the number of seniors seeking help from our food pantry network has gone up by 97 percent since 2016, as older adults continue to enter retirement without adequate savings and resources to afford rising housing and health care costs.”

Novotny said OAF’s budget request would allow the organization to provide at least 58 million pounds of food to all of Ohio’s 88 counties.

Stark and Summit County nonprofits that help people facing food insecurity and hunger fear cuts in federal funding could leave their programs starved for resources.

"We are preparing ourselves," Stark County Hunger Task Force Executive Director Stephanie Sweany said. "It's hard to navigate and know what is coming around the corner. We are trying to stay on top of it."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced over $1 billion in budget cuts to food banks and schools nationwide, inhibiting their ability to purchase fresh food directly from local farms and food producers. The cuts are part of the Trump administration's aim to reduce federal spending and government waste.

USDA: The USDA this month notified states that it did not plan to carry out a second round of funding for the Local Food Purchase Assistance program, but funds for existing contracts nationwide aren’t frozen. The Ohio Association of Foodbanks said it worked with roughly 170 food aggregators during the program’s three-year span. This produced 4.6 million pounds of food statewide, and food bank network leaders aren’t sure if they can replace that.

Cuts at the USDA are impacting local farmers and food pantries across the Miami Valley.

As previously reported by News Center 7 at 6 p.m., a farmer in New Lebanon says the cuts to the Local Food Purchase Assistance program will impact their business and low income families.

The USDA announced the “[Local Food Purchase Assistance] will now be sunsetted at the end of the performance period, making a return to long-term, fiscally responsible initiatives.”

The Ohio Association of Foodbanks says local producers, like Guided by Mushrooms, will feel the brunt of these cuts.

“We don’t want to, obviously, fire anybody. So, we’re already looking at new markets. I feel confident that we will be able to recover, it’ll just take us a little bit,” Cox said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture suspended a program that partners local food banks with local farmers used by farmers and food banks across southwest Ohio.

The USDA this month notified states that it did not plan to carry out a second round of funding for the Local Food Purchase Assistance program for fiscal year 2025, but funds for existing contracts nationwide aren’t frozen. This move followed the Trump administration approving steep budget cuts at the USDA.

Michael Goldstick, of Guided By Mushrooms in New Lebanon, said local farmers have a little bit of time to plan around this change, as existing contracts will be funded through June.

“We invested, planned and grew for this program,” he said. “We appreciate the runway to work toward alternatives, a Plan B, but we’re disappointed that small farmers, hungry families and food banks will be impacted by this. And this is nationwide.”