The Joint Committee on Agriculture would like to share upcoming USDA grant opportunities that may be of interest to schools and other eligible organizations in your districts

Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program 

This program is designed to increase the availability of local foods in schools and help connect students to the sources of their food through education, taste tests, school gardens, field trips, and local food sourcing for school meals. Grants can launch new farm-to-school programs or expand existing efforts. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Farm to School Grant awards projects of 24 months in length for funding up to $500,000. Applicants are required to provide matching support of at least 25 percent of the total project budget in the form of cash or in-kind contributions. The RFA offers three tracks - Implementation, State Agency, and Turnkey - to support a variety of projects and implementation stages. Eligible applicants may include schools and other institutions that operate Child Nutrition Programs, Indian Tribal Organizations, agricultural producers or groups of agricultural producers, nonprofit entities, and State and local agencies. 

Posted: October 11, 2023 

Application Closing Date: January 12, 2024 

Healthy Meals Incentive Initiative – School Food Systems Transformation Challenge Sub-Grants 

Two of the four organizations leading the School Food Systems Transformation Challenge Sub-Grants will open applications in November 2023. 

Supporting Community Agriculture and Local Education Systems (SCALES), led by Boise State University, will encourage innovative partnerships between schools and producers, growers, and processors to nourish students through the transformation of the school food system. 

Partnerships for Local Agriculture & Nutrition Transformation in Schools (PLANTS), led by the Chef Ann Foundation, will support regional efforts to nourish students, increase equity, foster a resilient supply chain, and create scalable and sustainable change for school districts across the country. 

**SCALES and PLANTS sub-grant applications will open in November of 2023. Link TBA.** 

(Applications for sub-grants managed by two other organizations – Full Plates Full Potential and Illinois Public Health Institute – will open in early 2024.) 

Collectively, the four organizations were awarded $50 million to administer these sub-grants. The grants will support collaboration between school districts, food producers, suppliers, distributors, and/or community partners to stimulate a resilient, equitable, and nutritious school food system. 

To learn more about the Healthy Meals Incentive Initiative (HMII), click here. Three Massachusetts school districts have benefitted from HMII grants.