The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced cancellation of the Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program for fiscal year 2025, which would have provided $10 million to help schools and early care and education (ECE) centers incorporate local foods, nutrition education, and garden activities into their meal programs.
This announcement comes on the heels of USDA's earlier announcement that it has officially terminated the second round of the Local Food for Schools and Child Care (LFSCC) program, as well as its sibling Local Food Purchasing Assistance (LFPA) program. LFSCC was set to provide state agencies with $660 million for schools and child care sites to purchase local food over the next three years.
Right now we need every voice to speak out to push back against this decision.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced cancellation of the Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program for fiscal year 2025, which would have provided $10 million to help schools and early care and education (ECE) centers incorporate local foods, nutrition education, and garden activities into their meal programs. Since 2013, this competitive grant has provided one of the only dedicated sources of federal funding for schools and ECEs to connect children with healthy, local foods while supporting farmers, ranchers, and food producers. In the previous grant cycle, FY24 funding awarded 154 projects, serving an estimated 1.9 million students across the country, supporting projects ranging from as small as $21,000 to multi-state coordination grants of up to $500,000.
The program helps connect students to their food sources through nutrition education, school gardens, and local food procurement. Without this funding, vital progress toward healthier food for kids, and the education to participate in where that food comes from, is at risk.
This announcement comes on the heels of USDA’s cancellation of the Local Food for Schools and Child Care (LFSCC) and Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) Cooperative Agreement Programs, stating that they no longer fulfill the Department’s priorities. These agreements, which would have provided $660 million in federal funds for schools and child care settings to purchase local food, as well as $421 million to provide local food for emergency food programs, were a much-needed investment to kick-start better markets for producers, scale up local distribution and aggregation, and get more fresh, whole, and minimally processed food into nutrition programs.
Abruptly canceling this landmark investment just as farmers are planning for the growing season, and after many have made capital investments to meet these market opportunities, sends the wrong message about USDA's commitment to American producers. Moreover, at a time when the public is increasingly calling for more fresh and whole-food nutrition in our federal programs, pulling back this investment in child nutrition leaves schools and child-care providers with tighter, more unpredictable budgets and more pressure to rely on packaged options.
We call on policymakers to rethink this decision. We must not to pass up this opportunity for essential investments that get more food dollars into the hands of producers and take our children's future in a healthier direction.