Sponsors (4)
The bill expands farm-to-institution education and creates targeted, smaller grants that broaden market access—including for Tribal communities—while generating research to guide policy, but its grant size/time limits, tighter eligibility rules, and extra reporting could hinder larger-scale projects, exclude some past grantees, and add administrative burdens.
Children and students in eligible institutions will receive expanded hands-on agriculture, nutrition, and culturally relevant food education.
Local agricultural producers (including beginning farmers and fishers), small businesses, and rural communities gain new market opportunities through funding for procurement, aggregation, processing, transport, and distribution; smaller, time-limited grants (up to $500,000 for 3 years) encourage more diverse and targeted participation by lowering barriers for smaller projects.
Tribal communities receive higher priority and may use certain Federal Tribal funds to meet matching requirements, reducing financial barriers and improving access to program resources for Tribal projects.
Capping grants at $500,000 and limiting awards to 3 years may underfund large-scale or longer-term projects, constraining efforts to expand supply-chain capacity and scale institutional procurement.
Restricting permissible uses of funds (for example, prohibiting grants solely for conferences) and tightening definitions of eligible entities could exclude some existing grantees or activities, reducing access for certain nonprofits and institutions.
Requirements for periodic reporting and administrative rules for waivers increase administrative workload, which could slow grant disbursement and raise program costs for USDA and taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Revises the Patrick Leahy Farm to School Program to broaden eligible activities, add research/evaluation, allow distribution infrastructure grants, cap grant size at $500K, and permit matching waivers including Tribal match treatment.
Official title: Amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to reauthorize the farm to school program, and for other purposes.
Introduced November 6, 2025 by Peter Welch · Last progress November 6, 2025
Revises and expands the Patrick Leahy Farm to School Program to clarify who can participate, what activities qualify, and what the Secretary can fund. The bill updates definitions (e.g., agricultural producer, eligible institution, farm to school program), allows grants to support education, local procurement, and food distribution activities (aggregation, processing, transportation), and adds research and evaluation to allowable federal support. It also sets grant limits (maximum $500,000, up to 3 years), bars grants that only fund conferences, requires the Secretary to seek diversity in awards, and creates waiver authority and matching flexibility—including rules letting Tribal agencies count certain federal tribal benefits toward matching where consistent with purpose.