WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is directing up to $95 million toward school kitchen infrastructure and farm-to-school grants while expanding local food procurement efforts, part of a federal push unveiled Friday to shift more school meals toward locally produced and nutrient-dense foods.
The Harvest to Hallways initiative includes up to $70 million in cafeteria infrastructure investments and up to $25 million in additional Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants for fiscal 2026, according to USDA. The Department of Health and Human Services will separately invest $30 million in school nutrition research.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unveiled the initiative in Washington as part of the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda.
Of the infrastructure funding, USDA plans a new $50 million investment to help qualifying schools buy equipment including cold-storage systems and stoves, improve food safety and establish or expand School Breakfast Programs. That funding follows $20 million in previously announced National School Lunch Program Equipment Assistance Grants.
The initiative also seeks to increase school purchases from domestic farmers and ranchers through an existing procurement mechanism known as the Local Option School Procurement Program. USDA plans outreach and webinars aimed at increasing school participation in the program, which can allow reimbursement for purchases of locally produced foods.
The department pointed to Union County, Kentucky, where school districts have used the procurement option to purchase locally produced beef.
Another $25 million would go toward additional Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants in fiscal 2026, supporting programs that incorporate locally produced food into child nutrition programs while providing markets for agricultural producers.
Pennsylvania has previously participated in that effort. USDA cited a Pennsylvania Beef Council project that worked with 175 schools to provide locally raised beef to nearly 300,000 students.
“When we strengthen the connection between the farm and the lunchroom, everybody wins: our children eat better, our farmers gain new markets, and our communities grow stronger,” Rollins said.
USDA and HHS also plan to encourage more states to adopt the Pledge for Healthier School Meals, which promotes nutrition practices aligned with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030.
HHS, meanwhile, will put $30 million toward research examining practical and cost-effective methods for improving school-meal nutrition. The research component is intended to identify approaches that schools could implement on a broader scale.
Kennedy said the administration is seeking to give schools the ability to serve nutrient-dense food “affordably” while putting the updated federal dietary guidelines into practice.
The federal agencies also plan to encourage public-private partnerships that could supplement the government’s cafeteria infrastructure spending.
More information about Harvest to Hallways is available at www.usda.gov/harvest-to-hallways.
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