As the political wrangling over weakening school nutrition standards continues in Congress, here’s some nice school food news to share: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced yesterday that the USDA will be providing school districts with over $5 million in grants for “82 projects spanning 42 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands that support . . . efforts to connect school cafeterias with local farmers and ranchers through its Farm to School Program.”
The farm-to-school projects include a program in which Delaware high school students will grow crops on a historic farm for use in school breakfast and lunch programs, as well as a plan by the The Inter Tribal Buffalo Council in South Dakota to provide locally raised tribal bison meat into the school lunch programs.
A complete list of the fiscal year 2015 Farm to School grant recipients can be found here.
And speaking of the USDA, a few weeks ago I was surprised and pleased to be asked by the agency if I’d like to interview Kevin Concannon, the USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, who oversees the National School Lunch Program. Needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity. Our emailed question-and-answer session should appear on The Lunch Tray later this week or next week.
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