USDA
Helps Schools Connect with Local Farmers and Ranchers
Nearly
$5 Million in Grants Will Create Healthier School Meals and Support Local
Farmers in 39 States
This week, Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $4.8 million in grants for 74 projects
spanning 39 states that support the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
(USDA) efforts to connect child nutrition programs with local farmers and
ranchers through its Farm to School Program.
“Farm to school programs work—for
schools, for producers, and for communities,” said Secretary Vilsack. “By
serving nutritious and locally grown foods, engaging students in hands-on
lessons, and involving parents and community members, these programs provide
children with a holistic experience that sets them up for a lifetime of healthy
eating. With early results from our Farm to School Census indicating schools
across the nation invested nearly $600 million in local products, farm to
school also provides a significant and reliable market for local farmers and
ranchers.”
USDA’s Farm to School Grants fund school districts, state and local
agencies, tribal nations, agricultural producers, and non-profit organizations
in their efforts to increase local foods served through child nutrition
programs, teach children about food and agriculture through garden and
classroom education, and develop schools’ and farmers’ capacities to
participate in farm to school. Awards ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 are
distributed in four different grant categories: Planning, Implementation,
Support Service, and Training.
For the 2016 school
year, grants will serve more than 5,211 schools and 2.9 million students,
nearly 40 percent of whom are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. Funded
projects include:
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Conway School District in Arkansas
received a planning grant to design a local food processing kitchen program in
a centralized school kitchen facility that will allow the district’s
schools to serve nutritious local produce throughout the school year.
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The Ferguson-Florissant School District
in Missouri received an implementation grant to partner with St. Louis
University and local farms to expand and integrate its farm to school program
through the HELP (Healthy Eating with Local Produce) project. Through HELP,
student employees will use preservation techniques to make local produce
available to all 24 schools in the district year round, even outside of regular
harvest seasons. HELP will offer high school students culinary training,
hands-on experience with local produce, and food production skills while
providing employment in the local community.
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The New York State Department of Agriculture and
Markets received a support service grant to build on a successful pilot
program that provides local procurement, food safety, culinary skills, and
capacity-building trainings for districts. The department will also identify
and work with interested local growers to facilitate market-readiness
trainings.
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The Oxford School District in
Mississippi, which previously received a FY 2013 planning grant, will expand
their program through an implementation grant. The district will take part in a
city-wide food hub collaboration with the Oxford City Market and turn garden
projects into self-sustaining educational programs. Since receiving their
initial grant in 2013, the project has served as an example to schools around
the state and will continue to lead the way for farm to school projects in the
coming years.
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The First Nations Development Institute in
New Mexico received a training grant to convene Native American food producers
and leaders from schools with primarily Native American student bodies for a
two-day training. The event will facilitate connections between schools and
producers, showcase best practices, present resources available to initiate and
further develop farm to school programs, and provide an open forum to discuss
the unique challenges and opportunities for farm to school programs in Native
communities.
For a complete list
of 2016 Farm to School Grant recipients, please see the 2016 Farm to School Grants
summary page.
The
latest round of USDA Farm to School Grants brings investment since the program’s
inception in fiscal year 2013 to $19.9 million. Projects have been funded in
all 50 states, DC, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A report released earlier this year
found that a vast majority of grantees use the
USDA Farm to School Grant funds to strengthen or develop new
partnerships, suggesting the potential for widespread collaboration between
eligible schools, nongovernmental and community-based organizations,
agricultural producer groups, and other community partners.This is reinforced
by a recent USDA Farm to School Census finding that 39 percent of participating
school districts saw greater community support as a result of their farm to
school program.
Farm to school
programs are one of the many tools and resources USDA offers to help schools
successfully serve healthier meals. In
the past three years since the bipartisan passage of the Healthy, Hunger-Free
Kids Act of 2010, kids have eaten healthier breakfasts, lunches and snacks at
school. Over 97 percent of schools
report that they are successfully meeting the updated nutrition standards.
In addition to
school meals, USDA's Food and Nutrition Service administers several other nutrition
programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (Commonly known
as WIC), and the Summer Food Service Program. Together, these programs comprise America's nutrition safety net. For
more information, visit www.fns.usda.gov.
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