SNAP cuts could hurt area farms, families

On June 27, 2025, Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding, food merchants, and local farmers voiced concerns about how proposed federal cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding will hurt their farms and their neighbors if Congress follows through on the current version of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” also known as H.R.1.

“Radical reductions in SNAP would hurt not only the 2 million people who receive benefits and may be temporarily struggling, but would also hurt the Pennsylvania farm families, and families of those in 12,000 grocery industry jobs across the state supported by SNAP spending,” Redding said. “The Shapiro Administration is doing our part, investing to see that no family goes hungry in Pennsylvania. We are calling on Congress to keep its promises and remember their commitments to Pennsylvania farmers, families, and businesses.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro has said that Pennsylvania cannot replace the billions that would be lost if the funds are eliminated.

SNAP is a food assistance program helping families with children, seniors, and people with disabilities — buy groceries. In December 2024, SNAP provided $366,850,460 in federally funded food assistance benefits to support grocers, food retailers, and Pennsylvania’s agricultural industry.

“When SNAP benefits are cut, it’s not just households that feel it,” said John Zimmerman, communications director for Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association (PFMA) - a statewide trade group that represents convenience stores, supermarkets, independent grocers, wholesalers, and distributors. “It’s stores. It’s distributors. It’s farmers. When Emergency Allotments ended in 2023, more than a million Pennsylvania households lost an average of $181 a month. That was nearly $190 million gone from our state’s food economy every month.”

According to the Shapiro administration, SNAP provides more than $365 million in cash benefits that can only be used on food each month — supporting the entire food supply chain, including more than 10,000 grocers and food retailers and 53,000 farms in Pennsylvania.

They added that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service found that for every $1 billion issued in federal SNAP benefits, the economy grows by $1.54 billion through job retention and creation and income for farmers and other food producers.