McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program

(McGovern-Dole Food for Education)

Department of Agriculture

Proposed Cut

$240M

% Reduction

100.0%

Action Type

elimination

Who Is Served

~2.7 million food-insecure children in developing countries; U.S. commodity producers

Summary

The McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program buys U.S.-grown food and gives grants to groups that run school meal and child nutrition projects in poor countries. The FY2027 budget eliminates all $240 million in new funding for the program, a 100% cut, meaning no new school feeding projects would be started once current grants run out.

Who Is Affected

The program currently reaches roughly 2.7 million food-insecure children in developing countries through school meals and nutrition support for pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children. Nonprofit partners that run these projects, such as Catholic Relief Services, have already lost funding for programs feeding more than 780,000 children in 11 countries, and U.S. farmers who supply commodities like rice, beans, and corn—about $37 million worth in a recent year—would lose that market too.

What this cut would actually mean

If the elimination goes through, school meal and nutrition programs that keep children fed, healthier, and in class in low-income countries would shut down as current grants expire, since USDA says only remaining carryover funds will be used to wind the program down rather than start new projects. Children who depend on these daily meals for their main source of nutrition would go without them, and past cuts have already forced groups like Catholic Relief Services to end feeding programs for hundreds of thousands of children with little notice, while U.S. commodity producers lose a longstanding export market for their crops.

Sources

United States Department of Agriculture FY 2027 Budget Summary — USDA's own FY2027 budget document states the Budget eliminates all new funding for the McGovern-Dole program, using only carryover balances to close it out.
McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program | USDA Foreign Agricultural Service — USDA's program page describes how McGovern-Dole funds school feeding and maternal/child nutrition projects run by nonprofits and the UN World Food Programme in low-income countries.
USDA Canceling Grants that Feed Children Around the World — Reports that USDA's 2025 grant terminations under McGovern-Dole ended school feeding for 780,000 children across 11 countries served by Catholic Relief Services, and notes Secretary Rollins' comments that the program purchased about $37 million in U.S. commodities in 2023.
Trump Budget Would Cut USDA Funding by $4.9 Billion — News analysis confirming the FY2027 budget proposes eliminating the McGovern-Dole program as part of broader USDA cuts.