Grants / Department of Agriculture / Food and Nutrition Service

USDA-FNS-2023-F2S: FY23 Farm to School Grant

Closed Closed January 6, 2023 Opportunity USDA-FNS-2023-F2S ☆ Save

This grant is closed. Who won this program's grants before is below, and similar open grants are at the end of the page. It is in our archive of Food and Nutrition Service notices from 2022.

• Award ceiling$500,000
• Award floor$10,000
• Total funding$12.0 million
• Expected awards144
• Cost sharingRequired
• Funding typeGrant

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to nonprofits, state and local governments and tribes.

Please refer to the RFA, section 3, page 16 Eligible schools, including nonprofit private and charter schools, which operate the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and/or School Breakfast Program; Eligible Child Care Institutions, including non-school based institutions that have an agreement with the State agency to operate the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP);• Eligible Summer Institutions, including non-school based institutions that have an agreement with the State agency to operate the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP);State agencies; Local agencies; Indian Tribal organizations (ITOs)Agricultural producers or groups of agricultural producers; and Non-profit entities.

More grants for nonprofits, state and local governments, tribes.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past Farm to School Grant Program awards averaged $91,096; this notice allows up to $500,000 per award.
• Most of the program's money (66% over five years) went to nonprofits.
• The notice requires cost sharing or matching funds, so you must contribute part of the project cost.

What the grant funds

The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (NSLA) (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) establishes a Farm to School Program in order to assist eligible entities, through grants and technical assistance, in implementing farm to school programs that improve access to local foods in the USDA Food and Nutrition (FNS) Child Nutrition Programs, including the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), and Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). Each year $5 million is provided to the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support grants, technical assistance, and other activities related to USDA’s Farm to School Program. Additional funding for the Farm to School Program was made available from the FY 2018 through FY 2022 agriculture appropriations acts and, as a result, USDA expects to award approximately $12 million under this solicitation. As mandated by the NSLA, selected grant projects are limited to no more than $100,000 each. However, in anticipation of authority to provide grants of up to $500,000 in the FY 2023 agriculture appropriations, USDA will consider proposals of up to $500,000 from State agencies or other eligible organizations proposing projects that are multi-state or national in scope. The USDA Farm to School Grant Program is administered by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Community Food Systems Division (CFSD). Authorizing language in Section 18(g) of the NSLA (42 U.S.C 1769(g)) directs the Secretary of Agriculture to award competitive grants, designed to improve access to local foods in eligible schools, for activities such as: Training; Supporting operations; Planning; Purchasing equipment; Developing school gardens; Developing partnerships; and Implementing farm to school programs.

Category: Food and Nutrition.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Agencies often post the same opportunity again under a new number, so check the program's notices on Grants.gov and the similar open grants below.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.