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South Coast food pantries are bracing for a surge in demand and farmers are preparing to lose critical income if the federal shutdown continues and SNAP benefits end on Saturday.
In New Bedford, almost half of households will be affected, cutting off access to the country’s largest food assistance program at the start of the busiest season for hunger relief.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture warned states on Oct. 10 that, without congressional action, it would not have enough funding to issue full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for November.
In response, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and 21 other state attorneys general filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, accusing the Trump administration of unlawfully suspending payments even though billions of dollars remain in SNAP contingency funds. A judge in Boston indicated Thursday that she may soon rule in the states’ favor, but that any decision would be unlikely to take effect by Saturday.
“Despite having the money to fund SNAP, the Trump Administration is creating needless fear, angst and harm for millions of families and their children especially as we approach the holidays,” said Campbell in a news release. “It is past time for the Trump Administration to act to help, rather than harm, those who rely on our government.”
In Massachusetts, more than one million people are expected to lose food assistance this week from SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.
In New Bedford, slightly over 20,500 heads of household were enrolled in SNAP in September, state data shows. Compared to a census estimate of about 42,200 total households in the city, that means about 49% of households rely on SNAP here.
On the South Coast, the rush to find food assistance has already begun.
At PACE Community Food Center in New Bedford, the number of new clients has surged from about 15 per week to nearly 20 per day — on top of regular visitors — according to Brooke L’Etoile, the organization’s director of health and food access.
“We estimate it’s gonna get worse,” she said, “especially after Nov. 1, if people don’t get their food stamps. That’s going to really cause people to panic.”
At Coastal Foodshed, a nonprofit farmers’ food hub, Stephanie Perks, co-director and co-founder, said her team has seen a spike in online registrations and phone calls from residents seeking answers about their benefits.
“People are worried about eligibility. They’re worried this is going to be longer than a month,” Perks said. “There’s just so much fear.”
The cuts will also hit the region’s food suppliers. Farmers who rely on SNAP for more than 20% of their revenue are now rethinking their business models to weather the upcoming loss of income.
“These are programs that don’t just benefit the individual,” said Chris English, owner of Groundwork Farm in Westport. “It’s also for the small businesses that serve them who have come to build their business models off of serving these demographics.”
Strain on the system: Farms and shops
Andrew Thornhill, owner of Silverbrook Farm in Dartmouth, says roughly a quarter of his income is from SNAP customers.
“I don’t even know what’s gonna happen,” Thornhill said. “How can you even plan accordingly?”
Although Thornhill’s market season has ended for the year, the federal shutdown’s effects have left him concerned about the long-term.
“What happens next year if they get rid of SNAP, they don’t fund it for a long period of time, and then I’m out 25% of my business right off the bat?”
Thornhill said he began noticing red flags in SNAP payment delays more than a month ago. Deposits that typically arrived on Mondays through the state’s Department of Transitional Assistance were instead showing up closer to the end of the week. He isn’t sure whether it’s related to the shutdown, but said the pattern is not encouraging.
“I’m gonna just keep doing it the way that I’ve been doing it and just hope for the best,” he said. “I just gotta keep swimming in the muck, but it’s really hard to keep up with the positive attitude when they’re cutting food assistance right before the holidays.”
Silverbrook Farm sells products at farmers’ markets and through Coastal Foodshed, which links about 40 food suppliers — from New Bedford to Taunton — to food access programs. The organization buys food from these suppliers and distributes it through programs that take SNAP.
Even if SNAP benefits aren’t issued in November, explained Perks, recipients enrolled in the program can still access the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) — a Massachusetts program that automatically adds $20 to $80 in monthly produce credits to SNAP, depending on household size. Perks and other advocates are urging recipients to keep at least $1 on their Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards, the minimum required to access HIP benefits.
Coastal Foodshed, which processes up to $20,000 in HIP transactions each month, plans to deliver more than 100 produce bags to partner sites in the first week of November — a test run to see how many customers can still afford to participate.
“We don’t really know how many SNAP customers are going to have a balance,” Perks said. “It’s just so hard because it’s at the end of the month.”
Even if customers maintain a balance, HIP remains underused in the region. In Bristol County, only 4% of SNAP-enrolled households use HIP, the third-lowest rate in the state.
“People crave consistency. My business craves consistency,” said English of Groundwork Farm. HIP and SNAP account for roughly 30% of his income.
“The truth is, a change in administration could mean a change in my business model and I have to think on my feet, like when there’s a sudden government shutdown,” he said. “And it sucks because you can’t plan for that.”
English sells at the New Bedford Farmers Market, which he said accounts for about 75% of his SNAP-related sales. It’s long been his favorite market, where he’s built relationships with customers who now know him by name.
Still, next year, he plans to focus less on farmers markets and more on direct sales to keep his farm afloat.
“And I’m going to be looking more into wholesale avenues to circumvent the uncertainty that farmers markets can represent,” English added. “I think that these SNAP cuts are a great example of that uncertainty.”
Uncertainty is something Muhammad Naseer, owner of America’s Market on Acushnet Avenue, had already been dealing with for months. Increased U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the area had kept many customers off the streets, reducing foot traffic to his store. In September, he told The Light that sales had declined by about 12%, forcing him to cut employee hours in an effort to avoid raising prices.
Now, he’s bracing for another hit. SNAP purchases make up about 20% of his income, he said.
“It’s definitely going to have a big impact on businesses like ours,” Naseer said.
He said he may reduce payroll if conditions worsen. “We sell food, so what can we change about it?” he said. “We’ll see how the customer adjusts it, and how they’re going to handle it.”
Susan Murray, owner of Flying Carrot Farm and executive director of the Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership (SEMAP), said she expects the cuts to be a temporary setback for her farm.
SNAP accounts for about 10% of her income at farm stands, but at the Providence Winter Market, that number climbs to 30%.
“I’m just more worried for the people who are going to go hungry,” she said.
Murray said many of those who have voiced concerns are longtime customers, people she’s known for more than a decade, who regularly shop at her farm stand.
“I’ve talked to them about it, we can figure it out later,” she said. “We just said, keep coming and getting your vegetables and we’ll figure it out after SNAP comes back.”
In her role at SEMAP, Murray said she’s focused on advocacy, including direct outreach to federal lawmakers.
“It would just be great for people to understand how serious this is,” she said. “The government needs to feed the people. It’s as simple as that.”
System in motion
Lawmakers are also moving quickly. U.S. Rep. William R. Keating signed onto three food assistance bills in the past week: the Feed Our Families Act of 2025; the WIC Benefits Protection Act; and a bill to authorize federal reimbursement to states that use their own funds to keep SNAP for women, infants, and children running during a government shutdown.
“I am co-sponsoring three critical pieces of legislation that deal with hunger issues that are front and center during this shutdown,” Keating said in a statement to The Light. But he noted that the Feed Our Families Act, which would fund SNAP during government shutdowns, does not need to pass in order for USDA to issue November benefits. “The funds to pay for November are available to USDA and the Trump Administration has purposely decided to let people starve rather than use the available funds.”
Keating said the other two bills can’t reach the floor because “Speaker Johnson has refused to call Congress back into session since September in an effort to delay a vote on the release of the Epstein files.”
“I am disgusted by the Trump Administration’s decision to break the law and not fund SNAP for November,” Keating’s statement continued. “There are $5 billion in contingency funds available to SNAP for immediate use, and the administration has legal transfer authority that would allow them to fully fund benefits for the month. The Administration is weaponizing the hunger of 32 million Americans, and thousands of New Bedford residents, for no clear reason.”
Last week, Massachusetts partnered with the United Way to launch the United Response Fund as an alternate source of food aid.
“Our goal is to raise money and invest it back out to organizations that are not only making sure food is available, but that it actually is accessible in communities, that it can be delivered to where it needs to be, that it ends up in people’s homes the way it needs to end up,” Marty Martinez, CEO of United Way of Massachusetts Bay told State House News Service. Martinez announced Thursday that the relief fund’s donations have topped $1 million so far.
On Thursday, Gov. Maura Healey announced that the state will advance additional funding to food banks and local organizations to help families affected by the SNAP freeze. The Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program typically provides $4 million per month to food banks, but an additional $4 million from existing budget funds is being advanced for November, doubling the total to $8 million.
In addition, the governor launched a new SNAP Resource Hub, which provides information on how families facing hunger can get help, and ways for individuals and businesses to contribute.
However, Healey is not tapping into the state’s reserves, despite calls from advocates to do so. Almost every other state in the region has announced they’ll use state funds to cover SNAP benefits for residents amid the shutdown.
Earlier this week, Molina Healthcare announced three grants totaling $117,600 to address food insecurity among seniors. The recipients are The Greater Boston Food Bank, Coastal Foodshed, and Coastline Elderly Services.
On Wednesday, U.S. Senators Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, along with several colleagues, held a press conference calling on the Trump administration to release $5 billion in emergency USDA funds to sustain SNAP benefits.
Markey described the situation as not just an economic or civic failure, but a moral failure by the Trump administration and MAGA Republicans.
“It’s three days until millions of families across the country wake up unable to stock the pantry,” said Markey during the press conference, live-streamed on Sanders’ social media channels. “There’s no reason a mother or father should have to experience the heartbreak of watching their daughter or son struggle to focus on homework because they missed a meal. Trump’s cruel cuts are also straining the food banks. The pantries are already struggling to feed and meet the needs of hungry residents.”
At PACE Community Food Center, an emergency preparedness plan is already in motion, said L’Etoile.
“We’re trying to reach out to every possible avenue we can to receive donations — food donations as well as monetary donations,” she said. “It’s gonna be whatever we can do, at this point.”
The center is welcoming volunteers to assist during the first critical weeks of the crisis and is encouraging walk-ins to leave their contact information at the front desk.
A food drive has also been organized by the City’s Department of Community Services. Non-perishable food items can be dropped off at three locations: City Hall, Room 113; the New Bedford Council on Aging; and the Buttonwood Senior Center in Buttonwood Park.
The drive will run through March 31, with collected items distributed to PACE, the New Bedford Housing Authority, and local food pantries.
As lawmakers respond and organizations prepare, those most affected are hoping the crisis will at least lead to lasting change.
“There will be a big impact,” said English.
“If this is something that has to happen, and if the silver lining is that it reveals people’s struggles, then I hope that at least helps us change our perspective and our policies when we see how vital the program was, how much people depended on it, and how much small businesses and farms relied on it.”
To find food pantries in the Southeast, check the United Way of Greater New Bedford’s Hunger Commission list. For additional resources near you, visit Southcoast Health’s local resource directory.
Email Eleonora Bianchi at ebianchi@newbedfordlight.orgState House News Service contributed to this story.
Thank you so much for this well documented report in which we see that farmers as well as food aid recipients are affected by the coming denial of food aid, despite the fact that the Trump administration does have money appropriated by Congress to fund benefits for November.
Thank you also for telling us what our Massachusetts leaders, our Massachusetts delegation to Congress and local agencies are doing to solve the problem, and for documenting these efforts with links to your sources.
Thank you to the Light for making New Bedford your home!
Thank you for shedding light on this looming crisis. The risks posed by the potential food-aid cutoff are deeply troubling—not just for families who rely on SNAP benefits, but for farmers and food-pantries who are already bracing for a surge in demand. Your article does a strong job highlighting the interconnectedness: when benefits stop, the ripple runs from households to community suppliers and relief networks. I appreciated how you grounded the story in clear numbers (e.g., the significant portion of New Bedford households likely to be affected) and real-life strain on both food pantries and local farms. This is not simply a fiscal policy issue—it’s about food security, dignity, and community resilience.
Thank you for covering this with urgency and clarity. It’s a timely reminder that policy decisions at the federal level have local, tangible consequences—and that preparing, mitigating and supporting vulnerable populations is essential. Well done
It’s to bad that Warren and markey voted 13 times to deny the passage of the continuing resolution
It’s a shame that the politicians have turned the poor into a industry
Democrat Senators (Warren and Markey included) are using those receiving SNAP benefits as “leverage” for their own purposes.
Democrat Senators (Warren and Markey included) suffer no economic harm or hunger from their persistent “leverage” activity to keep the USA government closed.
Democrat Senators (Warren and Markey included) would not even vote for partial funding of the USA government.
“Leverage” is extortion and “hostage taking’ of those less fortunate than those imposing same on others.
Be supportive of those charities that help out in this era of “leverage”.
Send your usual political donation to the charity of your personal choice.
The democrat party that cared for and took care of Americans is dead. When they are needed the most the Far Left Liberals have turned their backs on the people that have voted for them for decades. They will never win another national election again until they move away from their far left liberal political agenda.