These funds were to be used to purchase and serve food from local farmers to RI students during the 2025 – 2028 school years through a partnership with local food hub Farm Fresh Rhode Island. The impact of the loss of these funds on local farmers, food businesses, school nutrition programs, and students will be significant.

In 2022, Rhode Island was awarded $560,189  through a USDA Local Food for Schools (LFS) Cooperative Agreement and $1,025,342 of a comparable fund, the Supply Chain Assistance HUB Funds (SCA), with the RI Department of Education. This initial round of funding was used to help our state develop the infrastructure, supply chains, and relationships needed to help schools throughout RI purchase and serve more local foods through Farm Fresh RI’s Market Mobile platform.

As a result, Rhode Island farms have been enjoyed and celebrated across the state – on school lunch menus, in cafeteria taste tests and in local food celebrations. Due to this funding, between 2022 and 2024, local food purchases by schools increased 167%.

Click here to read the official notice from the RI Farm & Sea to School Network.

Federal grant programs that fund local food purchasing and farm-to-school activities play an important role in helping schools serve students fresher, healthier, and more flavorful foods. The USDA’s most recent farm-to-school census showed that during the 2022-23 school year more than 74,000 schools offered local foods on their menus, and spent $1.8 billion on purchasing local foods. This is money that flows back into local economies and farms (Chef Ann Foundation).