Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes will be losing 17 truckloads of food that were expected over the next six months due to DOGE slashing the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Trump-approved dismantling of USDA means $300,000 worth of meat, milk, and other dairy products grown by American farmers will not come to Kalamazoo. Tariffs caused price hikes at grocery stores and increased job insecurity are expected to spike the need for supplemental food from pantries such as Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes. It’s expected that people that have previously never felt the need to visit a food pantry may be making use of the critical service for the first time this year in order as grocery budgets become strained
