by In the 2026 Fiscal Year, which started on July 1, the San Diego Food Bank will get less food through federally-funded programs, according to CEO Casey Castillo.
During an interview at the food bank’s Miramar warehouse, which also serves as their headquarters, Castillo stated that nonprofits are having difficulty determining what resources will be available, which undoubtedly hinders the planning process. Additionally, our food recipients are battling uncertainty.
roughly one in four county residents, or roughly 850,000 people, are unable to feed themselves or their family three wholesome meals a day, according to a March estimate from the San Diego Hunger Coalition.
The food bank projects that it would give 7 million less pounds of food this fiscal year than they had planned due to expected shortages in food procurement, including decreased government assistance.
The food bank fed almost 400,000 individuals each month last year, surpassing its estimated 52 million pounds of food delivery by about 900,000 pounds.
The food bank distributes food by collaborating with 450 nonprofit partners and using their fleet of 30 vans, which are filled with food and delivered to 200 distribution locations each month.
According to Karissa Wilburn, the food bank’s communications manager, the discrepancy between anticipated and actual distributions underscores the increasing difficulty of satisfying current demand with limited resources.
According to Castillo, the food bank is devising ways to close the deficit, such as using its reserve cash to purchase additional food.
Regarding the gap impact, Castillo stated, “We’re probably going to have to choose less expensive food and it will probably decrease the variety of items we’re able to offer.”
He is hopeful that the food bank will be able to fill the void, noting that the nonprofit was able to effectively respond to flooding, fires, and the Great Recession.
The food bank’s monthly clientele grew from about 300,000 during the COVID-19 pandemic to 600,000 almost overnight.
“What that took was being able to put in a lot of food orders knowing that supply chains would be disrupted but to make sure that food would come and be here on time,” Castillo said of the food bank’s response to the pandemic. He added that the strategy required a significant amount of capital and that the organization is debt free.
The food bank is still purchasing more food now than it did prior to the pandemic, and the local need for food assistance remains greater than it was before the outbreak.
Castillo stated that the SD Food Bank will buy more food when federal funds is reduced, as it has been since March.
According to Castillo, we are resilient. We’ve accumulated reserves to handle situations like this, and I believe we’ve demonstrated throughout time that we can act when called upon.
Cuts to federally-funded USDA programs
Castillo claims that federal food aid programs sponsored by the Department of Agriculture, whose budget was cut by the Trump administration by 23% year over year, have reduced funding for the SD Food Bank.
Commodity Credit Corporation cuts
Castillo claimed that earlier this year, he was informed that the food bank would receive nearly 2 million less pounds of food from USDA-funded Commodity Credit Corporation between April and July.
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Protein-rich goods like meats, dairy products, and eggs are provided by CCC funds, he said, and the food bank is not sure if the cuts are permanent.
Food banks in San Diego County are the only administrators of the USDA’s Emergency Food Assistance Program, which distributes food to households who meet certain income requirements. CCC funding are part of this program.
A family of four earning less than $75,552 annually is eligible in California.
Cuts to Local Food Purchase Assistance Program
The discontinuation of the USDA Local Food Purchase Assistance program, a $420 million nationwide project that provided funding for food banks to buy local produce, also had a detrimental effect on the food bank, according to Castillo.
About 18 months ago, Castillo said, the food bank started collaborating with a group of 50 nearby farmers under the LFPA initiative.
Buying greater diversity is one of the things the program enabled us to do, and the reason for this is that we’re collaborating directly with these farmers, Castillo stated.
About 540,000 pounds of LFPA vegetables were provided by the food bank over the course of a year, mostly through their Neighborhood Distribution Programs and Mobile Pantry.
The food bank was able to purchase over $30,000 worth of locally farmed produce per week, or more than 900 produce boxes, when the LFPA program was terminated.
According to Wilburn, the food bank expected to maintain and possibly grow this degree of fresh produce distribution and local sourcing if the initiative went on.
According to Castillo, the initiative was fostering a sustainable, circular economy between the food bank and nearby farms, giving the organization greater control over the product selection.
Additionally, the initiative enabled nearby farmers to grow particular crops for charitable partners that expressed interest.
According to Castillo, we had a farmer who was willing to plant bok choy after a nonprofit partner inquired about it.
Increasing demand for food assistance
The Third Avenue Charitable Organization, a nonprofit that offers social services and meals in the downtown area, is run by Lorena Galligan.
The quantity of in-demand commodities, such poultry, that are offered through the food bank has decreased, according to her organization.
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She gave the example of how the food bank occasionally has 20 cases of chicken on its list of available items, but because so many nonprofit food distributors are competing for those cases, her nonprofit, which provides free communal meals to over 100 people, feels that it is not worth taking only a portion of the cases.
Galligan stated, “I won’t have enough food to make one meal [for everyone], so I don’t need it.”
Additionally, following the passage of the Republican budget reconciliation bill in early July, around 65,000 San Diegans will no longer be eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP.
Due to clients running out of SNAP funding, Galligan said the organization’s most popular meals, Monday dinners and Friday breakfasts, grow to about 250 individuals at the end of each month.
Despite certain SNAP reductions not occurring until 2028, Wilburn said the San Diego Food Bank is planning for higher demand this fiscal year for a number of reasons.
She claimed that people of San Diego are now increasingly dependent on food assistance due to the city’s high cost of living and economic uncertainties.
The number of people requesting food assistance is already increasing year over year, Wilburn stated in an email. As government funding for safety net programs declines, this tendency is anticipated to continue. At the same time, families continue to face significant financial stress due to the consistently high cost of goods.
