The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (NSLA) establishes a Farm to School Program to assist eligible entities, through grants and technical assistance, in implementing farm to school programs that improve access to local foods in USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Child Nutrition Programs.
Donor Name: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Country: U.S.
State: All States
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 01/10/2022
Size of the Grant: $500,000
Grant Duration: 12 months or 24 months
Details:
Each year $5 million is provided to the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support grants, technical assistance, and other activities related to USDA’s Farm to School Program. Additional funding for the Farm to School Program was made available from the FY 2018 through FY 2021 agriculture appropriations acts and, as a result, USDA expects to award approximately $12 million under this solicitation. The USDA Farm to School Grant Program is administered by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Office of Community Food Systems (OCFS).
2022 Funding Priorities
- Applications that serve a high proportion of children (at least 40 percent or more) who are eligible for free or reduced price meals.
- Applications from Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs) and eligible entities where the leader, and/or 80 percent of the board, and/or 50 percent of the staff are Native Americans and the proposed projects are serving Native American communities.
- Applications from eligible entities where the leader, and/or 80 percent of the board, and/or 50 percent of the staff are Black/African American, and the proposed projects are serving Black/African American communities.
- Applications from eligible entities where the leader, and/or 80 percent of the board, and/or 50 percent of the staff are people of color and the proposed projects are serving communities of color (defined as Black/African American, American Indian, Alaskan native, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, and/or Pacific Islander).
- Applications from small- to medium-sized agricultural producers or groups of small- to medium- sized agricultural producers. Please refer to the specific eligibility criteria for the definition of an eligible small- to medium-sized agricultural producer.
- Projects located in or targeting Opportunity Zones.
- In order to qualify for Opportunity Zone consideration, the proposed project must target at least one school or school district located in part or all of at least one Opportunity Zone.
- Projects operating in and serving eligible schools/sites located in rural areas.
Funding Information
- Award amounts and periods of performance vary by grant track. Turnkey grant awards will range up to $50,000, with no minimum award amount. Implementation and State Agency grants will range from $50,000 – $500,000.
- Applicants may not choose any grant period other than 12 months or 24 months.
Eligibility Criteria
The following are eligible entities, which are described in more detail below:
- Institutions, including schools, school districts that operate the National School Lunch and/or Breakfast Program(s), and non-school based institutions that have an agreement with the State agency to operate CACFP and/or SFSP;
- State agencies;
- Local agencies;
- Indian tribal organizations;
- Agricultural producers or groups of agricultural producers; and
- Non-profit entities.
Entity type must be clearly indicated and unambiguous in all application materials.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
