The U.S. Agriculture Department is ending two pandemic-era programs that provided more than $1 billion for schools and food banks to purchase food from local farmers and producers. About $660 million of that went to schools and childcare centers to buy food for meals through the Local Foods for Schools program.

Florida school partners were slated to receive an estimated $42,583,882 in 2025 from the LFS program. Meanwhile, the state was expecting to receive a combined total of $22,439,038 from the LFPA programs, according to the USDA website.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has cut more than $1 billion in federal programs that gave schools and food banks funding to purchase food from local farms and ranchers ― a move that school lunch advocates say will take away free meals from millions of children whose parents are grappling with rising grocery prices.