What happened
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced 68 Patrick Leahy Farm to School grants across 37 states for fiscal year 2026. Together, the awards total nearly $20 million. USDA calls it the largest single-year investment in the program’s history.
The award list describes projects intended to connect schools and child-nutrition programs with farmers, ranchers, fishers and other local producers. Proposed work includes local purchasing, supply-chain development, school gardens, staff training, taste tests and agriculture education.
Why this is a promising starting line
The funding gives schools and partners resources to try work that ordinary cafeteria budgets may not support. It also creates a public list of grantees, locations and planned activities that can be checked later against delivery.
Earlier national data show farm-to-school activity already operates at meaningful scale. USDA’s 2023 Census estimated that 74% of schools participated in at least one farm-to-school activity during the 2022–23 school year. A recent systematic review found an association between local-food procurement and higher vegetable intake, while finding too little evidence to draw conclusions about other health outcomes.
Why we are publishing before the results
A grant award is a verifiable public action. It deserves coverage as an investment and an accountability starting point, not as proof that students are already eating differently or that local producers have already gained dependable revenue.
Good News IRL will treat implementation reports, procurement totals, student participation and producer experience as update stories. Publishing the baseline now makes those later claims easier to test.
The receipts
What the evidence supports
USDA awarded nearly $20 million to 68 fiscal-year 2026 Farm to School projects across 37 states.
Source 1, Source 2USDA described the round as the largest single-year financial investment in the grant program’s history.
Source 2The awards can support activities such as local-food procurement, supply-chain development, training, school gardens, taste tests and agricultural field trips.
Source 1USDA’s 2023 Census estimated that 74% of schools participated in at least one farm-to-school activity during the 2022–23 school year.
Source 3Research associates farm-to-school local-food procurement with higher vegetable intake, but evidence is insufficient for broader health outcomes and implementation barriers remain.
Source 4
No blinders
What this does not prove
- The award announcement describes funded plans, not completed projects or measured outcomes.
- USDA’s description of the round as record-breaking is an agency characterization; Good News IRL has not independently reconstructed every historical award total.
- National Farm to School Census estimates are self-reported and describe the wider field, not the performance of the 2026 grantees.
- Existing research does not support broad claims that these grants will improve every nutrition, economic or community outcome.
The return date
What we’re watching next
- Track which grantees complete the activities in their award descriptions and on what timeline.
- Measure how much grant-supported food purchasing reaches local producers and school meals.
- Ask students, cafeteria staff and producers what changed—and what remained difficult.
- Compare implementation and outcome reporting across projects when federal reports become available.
Primary sources
Check our work
- FY 2026 Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Awardees ListUSDA Food and Nutrition Administration · Government · July 7, 2026
- USDA Makes American Children Healthier, Agriculture Stronger With More Farm to School InvestmentsUSDA Food and Nutrition Administration · Government · July 7, 2026
- 2023 Farm to School CensusUSDA Food and Nutrition Service · Government · October 1, 2024
- Multi-Level Health Outcomes of Local Food Procurement in United States Farm-to-School Programs: a Systematic ReviewAdvances in Nutrition · Academic journal · December 31, 2025