The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today announced it has signed a cooperative agreement with Kansas for more than $2 million to increase their purchase of nutritious, local foods for school meal programs.
Through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS), the Kansas State Department of Education (KDE) will purchase and distribute local and regional foods and beverages for schools to serve children through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. These products will be healthy and unique to their geographic area, with the goal of improving child nutrition and building new relationships between schools and local farmers.
“This cooperative agreement supporting Kansas schools is another example of how USDA is working to build a more resilient food system rooted in local and regional production,” said USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt. “The Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program provides an opportunity for states to strengthen ties between local farmers, ranchers, food businesses and schools, and gives students access to nutritious foods unique to the area they live in, building stronger connections across local communities.”
“Strengthening relationships between local producers and schools is a long-term strategy to ensure our children always have access to nutritious foods in school, a win-win for child health and American agriculture,” said Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Stacy Dean. “Through this program and many other efforts to support the school meal programs, USDA is committed to giving schools the tools they need to set children up to learn, grow, and thrive.”
Through the LFS program, KSDE will allocate funds to schools for the purchase of unprocessed or minimally processed meats from local small business producers, ranchers, and meat processors. This project will pave a way toward a thriving local meat to school infrastructure that can be sustainable after grant funds are no longer available.
“This grant provides a much-needed solution to the supply chain issues and rising food costs our school nutrition programs have faced over the last few years,” said Dr. Randy Watson, Kansas Commissioner of Education. “Kansas schools will be able to increase access to locally raised, high-quality meats while supporting small businesses - producers, ranchers and meat processors in Kansas.”
Source : usda.gov