Media Coverage

Ohio food banks are urging state lawmakers to approve what they said is a modest budget increase needed to get more fresh, local produce into the hands of hungry families.

The request coincides with National Fruits and Vegetables Month and a broader call to support both food access and local farms. Through the Ohio Agricultural Clearance Program, surplus produce from nearly 100 Ohio farms is delivered to food banks statewide.

Alex Buck, president of the Fruit Growers Marketing Association, said the funding request is not just about food access, it is about sustaining local agriculture.

"Our relationship with the food banks isn't for profitability purposes, it is the right thing to do to support our communities," Buck explained. "It also allows our farms to be compensated fairly for produce that would not normally make it to the retailers."

Ohioans on the front-line fighting hunger are urging the state’s U.S. Senators to change the budget reconciliation package passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill makes dramatic changes to the food stamps program, known as SNAP, placing a substantial new burden on states. It comes at a moment when food banks and pantries say they’re stretched to the breaking point.

“We’re the richest nation on earth,” Grace Church pastor and Mid-Ohio Food Collective Board Member Michael Young said Thursday.

“This issue of feeding people should not be this difficult or this hard,” he continued, “(There) should not be many decisions to make when we’re talking about putting food on people’s table — it is a moral obligation.”

Food banks across Ohio are dealing with a major increase in need, but each Republican budget passed in the state cuts their funding from 2025 to 2026 by millions.

The need for help putting food on the table is growing in Ohio.

Last year’s visits to the state’s network of food pantries were nearly 16 million, including repeat customers, according to the Ohio Association of Foodbanks.

“The fact is that, unfortunately, the need for food is at an all-time high,” Kristin Warzocha with Greater Cleveland Food Bank said.

Now, Warzocha is bracing for a tough year.

“We are expecting changes that could result in up to 8 million less pounds of food next year,” she said. “That’s a 15% decrease — that’s without additional public or private support.”

Ohio food banks are currently receiving $32.5 million from the state. But typically, they’ve been receiving about $24.5 million since 2019. In the last budget, they were given a one-time supplement of $7.5 million due to extra COVID-19 dollars and increased need. Now they would be going back to $24.5 million — despite the surge in need and inflation.

The Mid-Ohio Food Collective provides food for over a million people in Ohio. They said if President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" passes then it will create more demand, and they are not sure if they can keep up.

Matt Habash, the CEO of Mid-Ohio Food Collective said SNAP is the first line of defense against hunger. He worries that without that line, everything will fall upon the food banks.

Thousands in Southwest Ohio could lose federal food assistance benefits, while tens of thousands more could see assistance reduced under congressional budget proposals, according to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).

Republicans in support of changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, say the changes will save money, root out waste and encourage personal responsibility.

The program offers an average of $191 per month to 1 in 9 low-income, elderly and disabled Ohioans to purchase groceries each month, according to a CBPP analysis of USDA Food and Nutrition Service data. Sixty-two percent of Ohio households that participate in SNAP are in families with children.

Congress is considering the deepest cuts ever to the food assistance program under a plan that would reduce funding by $300 billion over the next decade, according to the CBPP. The cuts will be used in part to pay for trillions in tax cuts that will benefit the wealthy.