Farm to school makes local food and agricultural education available to child nutrition program participants through grants, research, technical assistance, and training.
We have awarded over $47 million to 2026 Patrick Leahy Farm to School grantees, the largest ever single-year financial investment in the history of the grant program. As part of the Harvest to Hallways initiative, we awarded 149 total projects across 47 states that bring more real, local food to America’s schoolchildren while expanding economic opportunities for farmers and food producers. To learn more about the 2026 awards, visit the grant awards page. Congratulations to the 2026 awardees!
We are clarifying the geographic preference option—a tool that helps child nutrition program (CNP) operators more easily purchase local foods for program meals. The update is meant to support CNP operators in bringing more local food to students’ plates. To learn more, check out the memo Simplified Geographic Preference Procurement in Child Nutrition Programs.
- Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants
- Farm to School - Planning Toolkit
- USDA Foods: A Resource for Maximizing Food Budgets To Buy Local Factsheet
- USDA DoD Fresh Program: A Source for Locally Grown Produce Factsheet
- Agricultural Marketing Service Grants, Loans and Other Support
- Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Grants
- Composting and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) Cooperative Agreements
