I recently joined with Karen Siebert, Harvesters—The Community Food Network (Harvesters) to discuss how the food bank works with federal funding to feed Kansans experiencing hunger. Please enjoy this article and listen to its partnering conversation on the Kansas Rural Center Presents Podcast for a deeper dive.

Harvesters was created in 1979 as a partnership between the faith and business communities. The faith community was seeing an influx of people needing help that they hadn’t seen before. People were having a difficult time, and in those times, they turned to their churches for help. As these churches began to be overwhelmed by the community’s needs, the grocery industry was booming with a plethora of new products available through their supply chains. These products also created an abundance of waste as they would then be sent to the landfill on the approach of their “best by date.” These two groups came together to form a solution but needed a conduit to handle the vetting of grocery recipients and the distribution. Food banking was created. The food banks can take food from where there’s excess to where there’s a need and move it around the system, whether from the farm field, processor or local grocery store.

Harvesters is a Feeding America Food Bank based in Kansas City. They serve 10 counties in Missouri and 17 counties in Kansas. The Kansas Food Bank and Harvest Community Food Bank cover the other counties in Kansas. Different from a food pantry, a food bank is a large food collection and distribution facility. They focus on creating relationships with food donors, large food retailers, food processors, producers, and farmers, and they accept large donations of food to then distribute to their partner agencies, often food pantries. Harvesters services more than 900 food pantries in churches and community centers, domestic violence centers, and residential care facilities throughout the region.

“ food banking is where Mother Teresa meets the teamsters ”

Father Pat Tobin, Founder of Harvesters Food Bank

Last year, Harvesters distributed nearly 61 million pounds of food, mostly donated. These foods come directly from farmers, processors and retail locations. Harvesters also gets about 13% of the food they receive via government commodities through the USDA’s Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP). CSFP accounts for senior food boxes and is through the Farm Bill. Below, we will describe the many government programs that address hunger in Kansas.

TEFAP

Listen to Karen's Episode of Kansas Rural Center Presents

When farmers encounter declining markets for the food they have already produced, The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) steps in by using allocated funds to purchase the surplus crops. For example, a cranberry producer facing a declining market could have their excess crops bought by TEFAP. These cranberries would then be processed into products such as craisins, cranberry juice, or Jell-O. The processed food is then distributed to the states, each receiving an allotment of TEFAP foods based on factors like poverty rates, unemployment, and population. The states are then responsible for distributing these foods to communities and individuals in need, typically through food banks.

3 TEFAP Programs

TEFAP Entitlement is mandatory funding approved in the Farm Bill. Every year, a certain amount of money is made available to purchase TEFAP foods.

Section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935, authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to use these funds for disaster assistance and bonus commodities. That is a separate pot of money where the USDA can purchase foods that may need more market support. It’s more flexible than TEFAP Entitlement.

The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), established in 1933, supports U.S. agriculture. During the first Trump administration, it helped purchase tariffed agricultural products that couldn’t be sold in traditional markets. The USDA used CCC funds to buy this surplus food and distributed it to states for food banks.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, CCC foods made up about 25% of what Harvesters distributed due to supply chain issues. According to Karen, these high-quality items include nutritious meat, dairy, and produce from Kansas and other farmers around the nation.

In March, Harvesters learned that scheduled deliveries of CCC foods from April to August were canceled, raising concerns about meeting the needs of those turning to food pantries for help. However, the USDA later made some canceled fruits and nuts available through Section 32.

The Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), funded by the Farm Bill, is designed to

provide supplemental nutritional products to low-income seniors 60 years old and older who may be at risk of malnutrition. This is done by delivering supplemental food boxes containing 10 food groups, including cheese, shelf-stable milk, nonfat dry milk (every other month), peanut butter or dry beans, cereal, meat, vegetables, fruits, juice, and instant potatoes, rice or pasta. Currently CSFP is only offered in 57 Kansas counties. You must reside in one of the covered counties to qualify.

Farm Bill and SNAP

For every one meal a food bank provides, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also referred to as Food Stamps, provides nine. If SNAP lost 10% of its funding, Food Banks would have to double their capacity to cover the deficit. The SNAP program receives funding from the Farm Bill, which has recently been granted an extension to September 30th, 2025.

The Farm Bill was created as an alliance between agriculture and nutritional social services. Historians recount that the creation of the Farm Bill was an attempt to get more urban interests to vote for policies and budgets of importance to farmers and the agricultural

community. It is a misnomer that one takes from the other, as the two brought their own funding pools to the Farm Bill, from which they continue to draw. Without these interests connected, neither has enough legislative support to pass their initiatives. There are ongoing efforts to separate nutrition initiatives from agriculture, which would cause both agriculture and nutrition services to lose the combined voting power they need.

Local Food Purchasing Assistance (LFPA) - Terminated

October 1st, 2024, there was a press release stating, “USDA Invests $1.7 Billion to Support Farmers, Deliver Nutrition Assistance, and Bolster Rural Economies.” The LFPA was designed to boost local economies by buying food produced by local farmers and distributing it within their communities. This recently terminated program was funded through the Commodity Credit Corporation.

LFPA efficiently used existing systems to distribute these local foods to their food pantry destination, using less than 10% of that entire budget on administrative expenses. These funds provided new markets, allowing small farmers to grow their businesses and be there as resources for their communities in a time of supply chain difficulties. These funds also provided a sense of security for specialty crops that aren’t able to be insured. Foods that may be damaged and aesthetically unfit for a grocery store are still delicious, nutritious and available for purchase and distribution to food pantries.

Farm to Foodbank – Terminated at the State Level

In 2022, the Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) received $2.5 million from the USDA Marketing Service’s Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) Program to establish and manage a Farm to Food Bank Project. The KDA collaborated with the three major food banks in Kansas to distribute fresh produce to food pantries, helping to serve underserved populations and individuals in need.

Encouraged by the advocacy from the Kansas Food and Farm Coalition, including the Kansas Rural Center, the 2023 Kansas state legislature added $900,000 to the Farm to Food Banks program to extend its life beyond Federal appropriations. On March 10th, 2025, the Kansas Senate Committee on Ways and Means discontinued this program. A similar program initiative designed to deliver local foods to schools has been in progress with significant bipartisan support, but has recently been tabled as well.

Moving Forward

The most recent Feeding America Meal Gap Map revealed that in just a year, there was a 30% increase of people in Kansas who are food insecure. That data reflects hardship in what Karen described as “having a difficulty responding to the need already. And now, with the need going up at the same time, we’re seeing the resources we have available to feed people also going down.” She pointed out “The math doesn’t really work.”

Everyone sees and feels the impact of rising food prices when they go to the grocery store, no matter the income. The bottom 20% of earners spend 30% of their household budget on food, while the top 20% of wage earners spend 8% of their budget on food. So, if 30% of someone’s budget went up 30%, you can bet that they are struggling to keep up, especially if they are living month-to-month, and that’s just food. Karen reports that lower-income folks are being squeezed more and more, and while Food Banks support a large portion of the food piece at food pantries, many of these pantries also provide relief and resources in the form of clothing, shelter, transportation, utilities, childcare, financial relief, etc. and those expenses are also going up. While the resources continue to be canceled, the need for them continues to rise. Community members must work to educate themselves about available resources and advocate for more support both locally and at the federal level. We need to join together in support to plan for resilience as resources diminish. How will we address hunger as these gaps continue to grow?

Learn More by visiting:

Harvesters Community Food Network: harvesters.org

Follow food system news here:

NSAC: sustainableagriculture.net

RAFI: https://www.rafiusa.org