Help bring tasty kid-friendly locally grown foods to your cafeteria with the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm to School grant program. The USDA’s Farm to School program encourages schools, state and local agencies, Indian tribal organizations, non-profits, and others that participate in the National School Lunch or Breakfast Programs to connect with local or regional producers who can provide locally or regionally produced food for school cafeterias. By fostering school-producer partnerships with many types of producers nationwide Farm to School is an all-inclusive effort to teach kids about agriculture, health and where their food comes from.

A part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, the Farm to School Grant program allows eligible schools to access locally grown foods for increased health and wellbeing of their students. Let’s Move! and the Farm to School program is committed to reducing and eliminating childhood obesity and improving the health of all Americans. Webinars focusing on planning grants and implementation grants – the two types of USDA grants available for the Farm to School program – will be offered to interested schools.   An estimated $3.5 million in grants will be awarded this funding cycle.

To help assist eligible entities in preparing proposals, the USDA will host a webinar related to Implementation grants on May 15^th at 3:00 pm EST and a webinar related to Planning grants on May 17^th at 1:00 pm EST. For more information related to these grants register to attend the webinar and visit the USDA Farm to School website.