In December 2021, the US Dept. of Agriculture announced an exciting new one-time program to help schools purchase more local foods. The aptly named, “Local Food for Schools,” program provided $200 million nationally for schools to purchase locally grown/raised products. Massachusetts received $3.5 million and Mass. Farm to School has served as an administrative partner in this program.

We’ve not only connected schools to sources of local products but also processed all of the reimbursement requests from schools. This means that, for the first time, we have really great data about how schools are choosing to feature local foods on their menus. And we are excited to share with you our first high-level overview of the program.

We also know that impactful programs are much more than just numbers. So we have been putting together short stories about how individual school districts and producers have been impacted by the funds. We will be continuing to collect stories from throughout Massachusetts to share with you as the program continues. Northeast Food for Schools has been incredibly successful and thanks to the advocacy of many of you, USDA just announced another (larger!) round of funding. We are so excited that this local food incentive will continue, for the benefit of our kids and our producers.

Click on a school district or food hub below for more information about how they are putting Northeast Food for Schools dollars to use.