On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut funding for two federal programs that provided food banks and schools with money to buy food from local farmers. Over $1 billion in funding for the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement has been frozen.

Promising a return to “fiscally responsible initiatives,” the Agriculture Department ended two Biden-era programs that paid farmers to provide food to schools and low-income families.

At Happy Day Farmhaus in Germantown, Lauren Padovano prides herself on growing fresh food for food banks."Service people that might not be able to access it day to day," Padovano said. Padovano said she has been working with West Milwaukee's Hunger Task Force since the COVID-19 pandemic.