Health leaders, educators and farmers throughout the country are growing increasingly concerned about the impact to children’s nutrition after the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut two programs — totaling more than $600 million in funding — that helped to put fresh farm food in schools.
“We’re really disappointed, particularly given that there’s this focus on making sure kids are healthy, making America healthy,” said Diane Pratt-Heavener with the School Nutrition Association, a 50,000-member advocacy group that supports K-12 school meal programs.
In early March, the USDA notified states that the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program would be ending.
Since 2021, these programs have provided funding for schools to purchase farm-fresh food and supported educational programs like gardening to teach kids about agriculture and sourcing their own food. The nutrition association estimates that over 12 million students will be impacted by the cuts.
“Our big concern with this loss of local food for schools is the impact on students’ consumption,” Pratt-Heavener said.
Schools are required to serve a variety of vegetables, fruits and meats, while meeting federal nutritional guidelines for proportion size, sodium, sugar and other elements. For students who may not get to eat fresh foods every day, school cafeterias have become a place to learn about and experiment with new tastes, said Pratt-Heavener.
“It can take 10 to 20 exposures to a food for a student or a child to even try it, to punch it to their lips” said Melanie Wick, director of food service at Chicopee Public Schools in Massachusetts.
Served a Majority of Schools
Approximately 74 percent of schools nationwide participated in farm-to-school programs, according to a 2023 USDA census.
Research has shown that a lack of nutritional meals can impact the cognitive and mental health development of children, especially those in early childhood education, from birth to age 8. The USDA’s own research found lasting benefits for children, specifically preschoolers, who consume fresh farm foods. When exposed to a nutrition education curriculum that promotes local foods, preschool children have “a greater willingness to try and like healthy foods,” the USDA reported in 2017.
Tommy Sheridan, deputy director of the National Head Start Association, said his members are concerned about what these USDA cuts will mean for students across the country. Head Start programs receive agriculture department grants through the Child and Adult Care Food Program. That funding hasn’t ended, yet, but Head Start itself is facing elimination.
“From a very fundamental perspective, if kids don’t feel safe, if they are not nourished, they’re not going to be successful in the classroom,” said Sheridan.
Wick in Chicopee, Massachusetts, oversees 15 kitchens and feeds nearly 6,000 students a day. She was surprised by the reason cited for the cuts.
“In the termination letter, it stated that the Local Food for Schools grant was no longer effectuating the priorities of the administration as a reason for the grant being terminated. Obviously, that stood out to me, because how could purchasing local food for school children not be a priority?” she asked.
Massachusetts is expecting a loss of $12 million due to the cuts. The farm-to-school grants meant Wick could craft school menus using foods that would otherwise be out of her price range. Some came from producers just 30 minutes away.
“The local ground beef is $7 a pound. It wasn’t something that really fit into the budget before. But with this funding, the local food for schools grant, which was specifically set aside for these items, I had that cushion where I could say, ‘You know what? We’re going to do local ground beef every other month,’” Wick said.
Most schools have tight budgets for meals, she said, often “less than $2 per tray, in food costs, to build a complete meal.”
“You can’t work these miracles without proper funding,” Wick adds.
Farmers Losing Out, Too
The termination of farm-to-school programs not only jeopardizes the health and eating habits of students but also relationships with local farmers, many of whom depend on doing business with schools.
Matt Velasquez, a microgreens farmer in Louisville, Kentucky, said he previously worked with 10 school districts but now, due to the cuts, is preparing to work with just four districts.
“Some [school districts] are more savvy on the financial end and can make things work, but [for] some it’s going to be a real struggle,” he said.
Velasquez credits farm-fresh food with changing his life after he started experiencing health challenges from eating processed foods.
“My gut health turned around significantly. I felt like I got my life back,” he said.
The experience led him to start his family-run farm, Morning Fresh Growers, and tour schools throughout Kentucky to talk about the importance of a healthy diet and farm-fresh food.
“We had a fourth grade presentation about a month or two ago,” he said. “We brought in some samples and (showed) how we grow the microgreens. They created growing kits and the kids got excited about it, like, ‘oh, I can actually do this myself,’ and having a little bit more control about where they can get the source of their food,” he said.
Velasquez learned about the farm-to-school programs only last year. For even the short time that he’s participated, they’ve been crucial in forging connections.
“Now it’s going to take a little bit more convincing, which can happen, it’s just going to take a little bit more time,” he said about creating relationships with school districts. “There’s going to be a little bit more reluctance, because, OK, how much is that going to impact if I bring another vendor in for our budget?” he said.
Drew Hanks, associate professor of consumer sciences at Ohio State University, suggested that the federal government be more transparent about the expected outcome of the USDA cuts, as schools and farmers grapple with their new budget realities.
“How are [government officials] seeing this as waste? What are the implications?” Hanks asked. “We’re facing a lot of cuts, and I think it would be extremely helpful in better understanding where the benefit from this is going to come from, or how the government is thinking.”
State officials across the country, including in Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado and Virginia, have called out the Trump administration for breaking their cooperative agreements.
Pennsylvania and California have filed direct appeals. Gov. Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania called cutting the Local Farm Purchasing Assistance Program unlawful.
Meanwhile, the School Nutrition Association is encouraging Congress to take action against the current cuts and is staying alert to any potential cuts to come, Wick said.
“Regardless of your economic background, a hungry child can’t learn. These meals are critical to ensuring that students are nourished for success,” Wick said. “We should be offering them to all students as part of their education, just like we offer a ride to school and textbooks to learn from.”
Discussion about this post