USDA Canceled Funding to Help Source Produce for Schools

Their small farms helped stock food pantries. That program is going away.

Graham and Tonni Oberly say the goal of their Ohio farm Oak and Sprouts is to grow food in a way that is good for the land, their employees and their customers. (Photo by Maddie McGarvey for The 19th.) URBANA, OHIO — Oaks and Sprouts, Tonni and Graham Oberly’s family farm, got the email from the Ohio Association of Foodbanks just after five o’clock on the first Friday in March. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, had notified the Ohio D…

For these Louisiana schools, USDA cuts could mean local, grass-fed beef is off the menu

Kindergarteners eat lunch at Northwestern Elementary, part of Zachary Community Schools outside Baton Rouge. Due to the end of a federal farm-to-school program, the school can no longer afford to purchase beef from a local farm. (Aubri Juhasz/WWNO-FM)ZACHARY – It’s lunchtime at Northwestern Elementary outside Baton Rouge. The school’s kindergarteners pick out a box of milk and place it on a tray. There’s fried chicken, a roll, a vegetable of the…

USDA Disrupts Jackson Food Program, Ending Farm-to-School Grant

Midtown Partner’s Farm to Community initiative has served nearly 400 underserved elementary and middle school students and more than 2,000 Jackson residents since its start, distributing hundreds of pounds of vegetables. Now, the program is threatened after the USDA canceled Farm-to-School grants. The post Jackson Food Program Disrupted as USDA Cancels Farm-to-School Grant: ‘How Is This Waste?’ appeared first on Mississippi Free Press.

USDA Canceled Funding to Help Source Produce for Schools

This article was originally published in The Beacon.In 2020 and 2021, the COVID pandemic exposed weaknesses in the United States’ supply chain for key items in American households. The Biden administration spent millions of dollars through the U.S. Department of Agriculture on new programs that helped farmers sell their produce to local schools, create produce boxes for households and provide more direct food access to their communities. The Loc…

Farm to School grows NY ag, sows seeds for healthy eating

Cornell Cooperative Extension has become a driving force behind a surge in New York’s Farm to School initiatives. The programs stock school cafeterias with fresh, local foods and offer farmers an expanded market for their goods.