Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced today that USDA will be investing in farm to school programs nationwide to help eligible schools improve the health and wellbeing of their students and connect with local agricultural producers. The new program will promote opportunities for nutrition and agriculture education while providing new economic opportunities for food producers of all kinds and communities nationwide.
“School cafeterias are great places to champion U.S. agriculture and to teach students where their food comes from,” said Deputy Secretary Merrigan. “More and more, schools are connecting with their local farmers, ranchers and food businesses each day and these programs are a great way to bring more local offerings into school cafeterias and support U.S. producers as well. As we struggle with obesity and associated diet related diseases, farm to school programs give us one important tool to help our kids make lifelong healthy eating choices.”
$5 million will be provided to USDA on an annual basis to support grants, technical assistance, and the Federal administrative costs related to USDA’s farm to school program. In this first funding cycle, FNS anticipates awarding up to $3.5 million in grants, while the remaining $1.5 million will support a combination of training and technical assistance, administrative costs, and/or additional farm to school grants.Letters of Intent are suggested but not required by May 18, 2012, while proposals are due June 15, 2012. To assist eligible entities in preparing proposals, USDA will host a webinar related to Implementation grants on May 15th at 1:00 pm EST and a webinar related to Planning grants on May 17th at 1:00 pm EST. For more information on webinars, the farm to school grant program, or USDA’s farm to school efforts in general, please visit the USDA Farm to School website.
