(WHTM) – Governor Josh Shapiro on Tuesday announced his administration is appealing the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) termination of the Local Food Purchasing Assistance (LFPA) Program.

Shapiro called the USDA’s move “unlawful” and said the program provides funding to Pennsylvania farms that supply local food banks with produce.

The governor said he directed Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding to challenge the termination, which canceled a $13 million contract that supports 189 Pennsylvania farms and 14 Pennsylvania food banks.

“As there is no articulated or reasonable basis for terminating the agreement, the purported
termination is unlawful, and the Department objects to and challenges this decision,” said Redding in a letter to the Deputy Administrator of the USDA.

Redding called for the USDA to provide “the factual and legal basis for your determination that this agreement “no longer effectuates agency priorities.””

Redding shared the list of farms that will no longer have funding to supply food banks with produce in his letter to the USDA.

The contract was agreed to on December 27, 2024, in the final days of the Biden administration.