USDA expands farm-to-school grants

The USDA’s latest farm-to-school move is bigger than a routine grant announcement. It turns a long-running program into a larger, more explicit funding pipeline for getting locally produced food into school meals, summer meals and child care settings. On July 7, USDA said it had completed the largest single-year investment in the history of the Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program, awarding nearly $20 million across 68 projects in 37 states. (usda.gov) Start with the mechanics. The Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program is designed to increase local food in child nutrition programs and connect children to where food comes from through procurement, education, taste tests, school gardens and field trips. USDA says the grants can fund both brand-new efforts and expansions of existing programs. (fna.usda.gov) What changed this cycle is scale and structure. USDA first opened FY 2026 applications in September 2025 with up to $18 million available, then said in April 2026 it was making the largest-ever investment in the program, and by July 2026 said total awards had risen to nearly $20 million. USDA and trade coverage described the year as a reworked or “reimagined” round built around larger projects and stronger partnerships. (usda.gov) That matters because farm-to-school is not just about buying a few local apples. Schools, child care operators and summer meal programs need suppliers that can meet food-safety, packaging, delivery and procurement requirements. USDA’s award pages say grant funds can support planning, partnership development, supply-chain creation, equipment, menu development and training — the practical pieces that often determine whether a small producer can actually sell into an institutional market. (fna.usda.gov) The producer angle is central to USDA’s pitch. Secretary Brooke Rollins said the investment would help “farmers, producers, ranchers, and fishers” serve local foods in school meals, summer meals and child care settings, while giving producers dependable markets through schools. That frames the program as both a child-nutrition tool and a market-access tool for local agriculture. (bluebookservices.com) The school-side implication is that the grants are funding infrastructure, not just ingredients. USDA’s school meals page says farm-to-school sits alongside broader school food system work meant to build more resilient and nutritious school food systems through collaboration among districts, producers, suppliers, distributors and community partners. In practice, that means the grants can underwrite the coordination needed to make local purchasing repeatable instead of one-off. (fna.usda.gov) The community-project angle is also real. USDA’s eligibility and awards materials show grantees can include school districts, tribal organizations, producer groups, nonprofits and state or local agencies, which creates room for intermediary organizations to link schools with local farms and food businesses. That is the “funding lane” many local food networks look for: money for convening, logistics, planning and implementation across multiple partners. (fna.usda.gov) The clearest number in this round is 68. USDA’s FY 2026 awardee list says 68 projects across 37 states received nearly $20 million, making it the program’s largest funding year on record. (fna.usda.gov) What comes next is simpler: USDA says FY 2026 grants have been awarded and directs interested applicants to monitor the program page for future requests for applications, noting that requirements can change each year. (fna.usda.gov)