View allAll Photos Tagged healthymeals...
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke with reporters following an event to highlight food and nutrition. Secretary Vilsack visited Clear Lake Community School District to recognize the district for its trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for students. Earlier this month, the school district received a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Food and Nutrition Service for efforts to ensure the meals served are healthy, nutritious, and enjoyable for students. Secretary Vilsack participated in a child nutrition panel discussion and met with high school students from the Future Farmers of America program at Clear Lake High School on March 25, 2024, in Clear Lake, Iowa. USDA media by Cecilia Lynch
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs.â¯The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive.â¯â¯This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administrationâsâ¯White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foodsâ¯â¯
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million â including the recently-announced $500 million investment â is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.â¯â¯
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.â¯â¯
Farm to school activities â such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms â provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023. â¯
â¯Other key findings include:â¯
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.â¯â¯
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.â¯â¯
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.â¯
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the programâs inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs.â¯The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive.â¯â¯This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administrationâsâ¯White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foodsâ¯â¯
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million â including the recently-announced $500 million investment â is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.â¯â¯
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.â¯â¯
Farm to school activities â such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms â provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023. â¯
â¯Other key findings include:â¯
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.â¯â¯
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.â¯â¯
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.â¯
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the programâs inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
healthy lifestyle, health dinner, healthy aesthetic, healthy eating, high protein low calorie meals, calorie deficit meals, high protein low calorie, no carb diets, high protein, healthy eating, exercise, exercise plan, sport, abs, fitness aesthetic, workout aesthetic, anti inflammation recipes, anti inflammation breakfast, antiinflammatory food list, whole foods diet, health dinner, sunday reset, low carb snacks, no carb snacks, keto snacks, no carb diets, low carb snacks on the go, keto snacks easy, smoothie recipes healthy, smoothie ideas, smoothie aesthetic, best smoothie recipes, healthy smoothies, easy smoothie recipes, high fiber foods, high fiber snacks, healthy eating, high fiber dinner, fiber foods, healthy snacks, keto meals, keto dinner, no carb diets, keto snacks, keto diet for beginners meal plan, low carb, low calorie high protein meals,
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
A student in an FFA jacket—for Future Farmers of America—listened in a classroom as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and spouse Christie Vilsack spoke. Secretary Vilsack visited Clear Lake Community School District to recognize the district for its trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for students. Earlier this month, the school district received a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Food and Nutrition Service for efforts to ensure the meals served are healthy, nutritious, and enjoyable for students. Secretary Vilsack participated in a child nutrition panel discussion and met with high school students from the Future Farmers of America program at Clear Lake High School on March 25, 2024, in Clear Lake, Iowa. USDA media by Cecilia Lynch
Third grade students at the Northwest Elementary school works on a math exercise, Lebanon, Pa., Oct. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke with reporters following an event to highlight food and nutrition. Secretary Tom Vilsack visited Clear Lake Community School District to recognize the district for its trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for students. Earlier this month, the school district received a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Food and Nutrition Service for efforts to ensure the meals served are healthy, nutritious, and enjoyable for students. Secretary Vilsack participated in a child nutrition panel discussion and met with high school students from the Future Farmers of America program at Clear Lake High School on March 25, 2024, in Clear Lake, Iowa. USDA media by Cecilia Lynch
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
A panel discussion with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack at the microphone. From left to right: Peter Kraus, General Manager, Iowa Food Hub; Julie Udelhofen, Food Service Director, Clear Lake Schools; Secretary Vilsack; Rob Bisceglie, Executive Officer and President, Action for Healthy Kids; Jami Haberl, Executive Director, Iowa Healthiest State Initiative. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited Clear Lake Community School District to recognize the district for its trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for students. Earlier this month, the school district received a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Food and Nutrition Service for efforts to ensure the meals served are healthy, nutritious, and enjoyable for students. Secretary Vilsack participated in a child nutrition panel discussion and met with high school students from the Future Farmers of America program at Clear Lake High School on March 25, 2024, in Clear Lake, Iowa. USDA media by Cecilia Lynch
A panel discussion. From left to right: Andrea Evelsizer, Executive Director, Healthy Harvest of North Iowa; Peter Kraus, General Manager, Iowa Food Hub; Julie Udelhofen, Food Service Director, Clear Lake Schools; Secretary Vilsack; Rob Bisceglie, Executive Officer and President, Action for Healthy Kids; and Jami Haberl, Executive Director, Iowa Healthiest State Initiative. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited Clear Lake Community School District to recognize the district for its trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for students. Earlier this month, the school district received a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Food and Nutrition Service for efforts to ensure the meals served are healthy, nutritious, and enjoyable for students. Secretary Vilsack participated in a child nutrition panel discussion and met with high school students from the Future Farmers of America program at Clear Lake High School on March 25, 2024, in Clear Lake, Iowa. USDA media by Cecilia Lynch
Students of the Northwest Elementary School enjoy their lunch, Lebanon, Pa., Oct. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
A panel discussion. From left to right: Vista Suarez Fletcher, Midwest Regional Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service, USDA; Andrea Evelsizer, Executive Director, Healthy Harvest of North Iowa; Peter Kraus, General Manager, Iowa Food Hub; and Julie Udelhofen, Food Service Director, Clear Lake Schools. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited Clear Lake Community School District to recognize the district for its trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for students. Earlier this month, the school district received a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Food and Nutrition Service for efforts to ensure the meals served are healthy, nutritious, and enjoyable for students. Secretary Vilsack participated in a child nutrition panel discussion and met with high school students from the Future Farmers of America program at Clear Lake High School on March 25, 2024, in Clear Lake, Iowa. USDA media by Cecilia Lynch
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Vegetarian meals written by Marie Oser Here is Kale with Toasted Pine Nuts by marie Oser . Staff Photo Juan Carlo Scripps Howard VC Star (Life)
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Andrea Evelsizer, Executive Director, Healthy Harvest of North Iowa makes a point during a panel discussion flanked by Vista Suarez Fletcher, Midwest Regional Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service (left) and Peter Kraus, General Manager, Iowa Food Hub (right). U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited Clear Lake Community School District to recognize the district for its trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for students. Earlier this month, the school district received a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Food and Nutrition Service for efforts to ensure the meals served are healthy, nutritious, and enjoyable for students. Secretary Vilsack participated in a child nutrition panel discussion and met with high school students from the Future Farmers of America program at Clear Lake High School on March 25, 2024, in Clear Lake, Iowa. USDA media by Cecilia Lynch
Life Hacks :
Illustration
Description
GREEK HEALTHY MEAL PREP. 17 Paleo Meal-Prep Recipes to Make Once and Eat All Week #purewow #cooking #healthy #paleo #food #worklunches #healthymeals #mealprep #mealpreprecipes
-Read More –
listfender.com/diy/life-hacks/life-hacks-greek-healthy-me...
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Third grade students at the Northwest Elementary school works on a math exercise, Lebanon, Pa., Oct. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Students of the Northwest Elementary School enjoy their lunch, Lebanon, Pa., Oct. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Students of the Northwest Elementary School enjoy their lunch, Lebanon, Pa., Oct. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Third grade students at the Northwest Elementary school works on a math exercise, Lebanon, Pa., Oct. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Third grade students at the Northwest Elementary school works on a math exercise, Lebanon, Pa., Oct. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
A panel discussion in a classroom. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited Clear Lake Community School District to recognize the district for its trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for students. Earlier this month, the school district received a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Food and Nutrition Service for efforts to ensure the meals served are healthy, nutritious, and enjoyable for students. Secretary Vilsack participated in a child nutrition panel discussion and met with high school students from the Future Farmers of America program at Clear Lake High School on March 25, 2024, in Clear Lake, Iowa. USDA media by Cecilia Lynch
Third grade students at the Northwest Elementary school works on a math exercise, Lebanon, Pa., Oct. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
A sign reads "Welcome to Clear Lake Community Schools." U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited Clear Lake Community School District to recognize the district for its trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for students. Earlier this month, the school district received a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Food and Nutrition Service for efforts to ensure the meals served are healthy, nutritious, and enjoyable for students. Secretary Vilsack participated in a child nutrition panel discussion and met with high school students from the Future Farmers of America program at Clear Lake High School on March 25, 2024, in Clear Lake, Iowa. USDA media by Cecilia Lynch
Students of the Northwest Elementary School enjoy their lunch, Lebanon, Pa., Oct. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
People gathered before the start of an event to highlight food and nutrition. From left to right: Vista Suarez Fletcher, Midwest Regional Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service, USDA, Samia Hamdan, Special Nutrition Programs, Food and Nutrition Service, USDA, and Theresa Greenfield, USDA Rural Development State Director in Iowa. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited Clear Lake Community School District to recognize the district for its trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for students. Earlier this month, the school district received a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Food and Nutrition Service for efforts to ensure the meals served are healthy, nutritious, and enjoyable for students. Secretary Vilsack participated in a child nutrition panel discussion and met with high school students from the Future Farmers of America program at Clear Lake High School on March 25, 2024, in Clear Lake, Iowa. USDA media by Cecilia Lynch
People gathered prior to the start of an event to highlight food and nutrition. From left to right: Brent Bjelland, Farm Loan Manager, Farm Service Agency, USDA; Troy Daniell, State Conservationist, USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service in Minnesota; Tammy Pruin, County Executive Director, Farm Service Agency; Matt Russell, Executive State Director, Farm Service Agency, USDA. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited Clear Lake Community School District to recognize the district for its trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for students. Earlier this month, the school district received a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Food and Nutrition Service for efforts to ensure the meals served are healthy, nutritious, and enjoyable for students. Secretary Vilsack participated in a child nutrition panel discussion and met with high school students from the Future Farmers of America program at Clear Lake High School on March 25, 2024, in Clear Lake, Iowa. USDA media by Cecilia Lynch
Future Farmers of America program advisor Elisa Russ-Poggemiller spoke with Theresa Greenfield, USDA Rural Development State Director in Iowa, before her class met with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Secretary Tom Vilsack visited Clear Lake Community School District to recognize the district for its trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for students. Earlier this month, the school district received a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Food and Nutrition Service for efforts to ensure the meals served are healthy, nutritious, and enjoyable for students. Secretary Vilsack participated in a child nutrition panel discussion and met with high school students from the Future Farmers of America program at Clear Lake High School on March 25, 2024, in Clear Lake, Iowa. USDA media by Cecilia Lynch
Students of the Northwest Elementary School enjoy their lunch, Lebanon, Pa., Oct. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
Employees or the Northwest Elementary School prepares lunch for students, Lebanon, Pa., Oct.. 17, 2024. As part of a larger update to the school nutrition standards announced earlier this year, USDA made it easier for schools to buy local foods. Beginning this school year (2024-2025), USDA instituted a policy change allowing schools to require foods to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for their meal programs. The recently announced $500 million investment in Local Foods for Schools will encourage schools to leverage this new option to buy local.
To help empower schools in their efforts to improve meal quality and implement the updated meal standards, USDA invested $100 million to establish the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. Through this initiative, USDA provided $30 million in grants for small and/or rural school districts to help schools serve more nutritious meals by modernizing their operations. This is the largest targeted investment USDA has ever made for school meal programs in small and rural communities.
USDA will also provide a total of $50 million in grants to stimulate innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders.
USDA is offering recognition awards to celebrate school districts that make improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals and hosting summits for schools to highlight and share best practices for nutritious meal programs. (Lebanon SD is an HMI Recognition Awardee)
Nutritious school meals are a top priority for USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration, which have provided about $13.2 billion in extra financial support for schools since 2021 to ensure they have the resources they need to operate successful meal programs. School meals are a vital source of nutrition for about 30 million children nationwide, giving them the fuel they need to grow, learn and thrive. This is in addition to per meal reimbursements schools receive for serving balanced meals to kids during the school day.
USDA is also committed to increasing access to school meals to ensure all children are set up for success in the classroom and beyond. Advancing a pathway to free healthy school meals for all is a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration’s White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Investments in Local, Domestic Foods
Since 2021, USDA has provided a boost of nearly $4.8 billion for school meal programs to purchase domestic, unprocessed foods. Of that, nearly $700 million – including the recently-announced $500 million investment – is through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program. This program is specifically for procuring local and regionally sourced foods with an emphasis on purchases from historically underserved producers.
In addition to providing schools greater access to nutritious, local foods for their meal programs, this funding creates new market opportunities for producers as well as jobs and opportunities in local communities.
The supply chain for school meal programs is strongest when schools have relationships with local suppliers. The result is a stronger, fairer, more resilient local food chain for schools.
Farm to school activities – such as serving local foods in school, growing a school garden, tasting new foods and visiting local farms – provide experiential learning for children, support American farmers and producers, boost nutrition in school meals and more.
The new USDA Farm to School Census reports that 74% of schools served local foods during school year 2022-2023.
Other key findings include:
· School districts that purchased local spent about $1.8 billion on local foods, roughly 16% of their total food spending.
· Participation in farm to school activities has grown by 14% since the 2019 Farm to School Census.
· School districts with a high percent of students receiving free or reduced-price meals are as likely to participate in farm to school as lower-need school districts.
In 2024, USDA invested a record-breaking $14.3 million in Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, supporting projects that will touch 1.9 million children across the nation. USDA awarded grants to 154 projects in 43 states, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico. This brings the total investment in these grants to $48 million since January 2021 and $98 million since the program’s inception in 2013. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)
In a classroom, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, center, met with high school students, accompanied by his spouse, Christie Vilsack, educator and literacy advocate, (left) and Julie Udelhofen, Food Service Director, Clear Lake Schools, (right). Secretary Vilsack visited Clear Lake Community School District to recognize the district for its trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for students. Earlier this month, the school district received a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Food and Nutrition Service for efforts to ensure the meals served are healthy, nutritious, and enjoyable for students. Secretary Vilsack participated in a child nutrition panel discussion and met with high school students from the Future Farmers of America program at Clear Lake High School on March 25, 2024, in Clear Lake, Iowa. USDA media by Cecilia Lynch