Federal Funding Decreasing, But Demand Increasing at Food Pantries in Wisconsin

Thursday, May 1st, 2025 -- 8:01 AM

(Courtney Everett, Wisconsin Public Radio) The demand for services from food pantries is on the rise in Wisconsin.

According to Courtney Everett with the Wisconsin Public Radio, at the same time, pantries are receiving less food, and cuts by the federal government are leaving them with less support.

Earlier this year, the current administration eliminated a pair of hunger relief programs run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, worth about $1 billion in federal funding.

That is about half of what the group Feeding America projected the government would spend on hunger relief efforts this year. One of those programs supports working with farmers to grow local produce for school cafeterias, and the other helps fund food banks.

On WPR’s “Wisconsin Today,” Matt Stienstra of Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin said the demand for the organization’s 370 food pantries has increased by 30 percent since 2023.

The most recent report from the U.S Department of Agriculture regarding food insecurity shows 13.5 percent of American households were food insecure in 2023.

“We’re in the middle of the greatest spike of childhood hunger since the Great Recession,” said Stienstra, the Wisconsin group’s director of advocacy and community engagement.

According to the group, one in six children face hunger in Wisconsin. Less federal funding for hunger relief could also affect farmers. In 2023, Wisconsin farmers received about $11.5 million in federal money to support local pantries.

This year’s cancelled funding would have amounted to $17 million. “We formed tremendous partnerships over the past few years through these programs where we’re able to source food from farmers,” he said.

Stienstra said Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin has a partnership with the Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative, a farmer-led group, to ensure their crops continue to be delivered to communities in need.

“Almost 12 of the farmers have lost that ability,” he said. “We picked up those relationships to figure out how to support farmers.” Stienstra said despite the recent funding loss, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin recognizes that this is part of a bigger problem that began in 2022.

“Wisconsin has already lost more than a billion dollars in federal benefits and commodities that go directly to food pantries and families in need,” he said.

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