The purpose of this memorandum is to remind schools, sponsors, and institutions participating in any U.S. Department of Agriculture Child Nutrition Program, including the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, Special Milk Program for Children, Child and Adult Care Food Program, Summer Food Service Program, and the Seamless Summer Option, of the various resources available to help child nutrition program operators procure local foods.
Find resources to implement, sustain and maintain your farm to school program.
The Dirt is the Patrick Leahy Farm to School program monthly e-newsletter with updates, webinar info, relevant news, and field notes.
The purpose of Farm to Food Bank Projects is to (a) reduce food waste at the agricultural production, processing, or distribution level through the donation of food, (b) provide food to individuals in need, and (c) build relationships between agricultural producers, processors, and distributors and emergency feeding organizations through the donation of food.
Factsheets are available under the following topics: Farm to School Grant Program, Farm to School Program Resources, Local Food Resources, School Gardens, Farm to School in Tribal Communities, Food Safety, Producers, Farm to Preschool. Farm to Summer, State Agencies and Cooperative Extensions, En Español.
The Patrick Leahy Farm to School Program team is spread across seven regional offices and the national office in Alexandria, Virginia. For resources and information pertinent to your geographic area, please contact the relevant regional contact.
In many regions across the United States, USDA’s Summer Food Service Program aligns well with the peak growing season, allowing schools and nonprofit organizations to serve products in their freshest state.
This fact sheet presents effective strategies for supporting community food systems.
Farm to preschool works to connect early child care and education settings to local food producers with the objectives of serving locally-grown, healthy foods to young children, providing related nutrition education, and improving child nutrition.
The State of Origin data report for each fiscal year includes information on states where USDA purchased foods in that year. Learn where your USDA Foods are likely to come from, and what the top food is in your state!