The U.S. Department of Agriculture is cutting two federal programs that provided about $1 billion in funding to schools and food banks to buy food directly from local farms, ranchers and producers, part of what the agency said was a decision to "return to long-term,

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has ended the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, cutting over $1 billion in federal funding to food banks across the country.