Food bank officials in Iowa say the cancellation of a government funding program called the Commodity Credit Corp. jeopardizes hundreds of thousands of pounds of U.S. Department of Agriculture food for Iowans.

The recent cancellation of the fund jeopardizes 16 truckloads of USDA food that the Food Bank of Iowa was planning to receive April through July, wrote Annette Hacker, vice president of strategy and communication at the Food Bank of Iowa, in an email.

“We aren’t sure whether we will see all, some or none of those loads — close to 400,000 pounds of food,” Hacker said. “We are seeing factors pointing to these loads not making it here, but we don’t know for sure.”

She said the food in question includes milk, cheese, chicken drumsticks, pork chops, canned chicken, turkey deli meat, eggs and canned green beans and is valued at $798,548.63.

“The only way to make up the shortfall is to purchase more food,” Hacker said. “We are already doing so.”

Hacker said the Food Bank of Iowa has been assured that entitlement and bonus food through the USDA will still be available, “although that can always change, too. There are many uncertainties, but our mission continues.”

A representative of the USDA did not return a request seeking comment.

The New York Times reported that the Commodity Credit Corp. backed the USDA-run Emergency Food Assistance Program. In recent weeks, food banks across the country learned that the food shipments “they had expected to receive this spring had been suspended,” the Times reported.

Luke Elzinga, policy and advocacy manager at the Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC) food pantry network, said 22.5% of its food last fiscal year came through the Food Bank of Iowa, almost a quarter of the food the network puts out every year.

“So if that food is reduced and we have less access to it, we and other food pantries, we’re then going to need to go out and purchase more food at a higher cost,” he said. “So it’ll mean greater financial pressure on organizations like food pantries.”

He said this comes as pantries continue to see “more and more people.”

“Food banks, food pantries across the state, here in Des Moines, they’re continuing to break records, and these organizations are being asked to do more with less resources,” he said, adding that he’s “astonished” at the number of new people DMARC pantries see every month who have never used a food pantry before.

“We continue to see between 1,000 and 2,000 people every single month here in Des Moines, at our food pantry network, who are using a food pantry for the first time,” he said. “So a lot of people … are struggling just day to day, week to week, to figure out a budget and put food on the table.”

Jacob Wanderscheid, executive director of the Food Bank of Siouxland in Sioux City, said in an email that from now until June his food bank is expected to lose out on around 70,000 pounds of product valued at nearly $140,000 from the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corp. program.

Product shipments include canned veggies (several varieties), frozen turkey, gallons of 2% milk, shredded cheese and canned fruit (several varieties), Wanderscheid said.

He said the staff in his food bank and he are working to have the state of Iowa continue a program through the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship called Choose Iowa, “which should lessen some of the effects of this 70,000-pound loss,” he wrote.

“The Choose Iowa fund would allow food banks like us to purchase produce from local producers to supplement our supply,” he said. Also, he said it was “timely” that the Food Bank of Siouxland hired last year an additional position to improve donations. They are also working on a plan with partner food banks to see increases of local donations from individuals, retailers and manufacturers, he said.

“With uncertainty, it is harder than last year to source extra pounds,” he said.