California Makes Farm to School Funding Permanent; $86 Million Invested, 4.2 Million Students Reached
California's governor's office and the California Department of Food and Agriculture announced on October 16, at the statewide Farm to School Summit held at Soil Born Farms in Rancho Cordova, that First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom joined state officials to mark the progress of the state's nation-leading Farm to School program. The state also announced that funding for the program's Incubator Grant Program has been made permanent through ongoing funding in the 2026-27 state budget, institutionalizing the effort to bring California-grown food into school cafeterias.
According to figures released by the governor's office, the program has invested $86 million through the incubator grants, funded 375 Farm to School projects, and benefits 4.2 million California public school students. Eighty percent of grantee schools are Title I schools, and 100 percent of farmer grantees are small, mid-sized, or socially and economically disadvantaged producers. The state estimates that every $1 invested through farmer grants generates about $2.10 in economic activity. Combined with California's universal school meals policy — the state in 2021 became the first in the nation to guarantee free breakfast and lunch to every public school student — roughly 3.5 billion free school meals have been served statewide.
California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross said at the summit that the program's impact is hard to overstate, with schools better equipped to serve healthy local food, students gaining a deeper understanding of where their food comes from, and farms benefiting from ongoing partnerships. Governor Gavin Newsom said: "We're putting fresh, California-grown food on school trays, creating more opportunity for local farms, and building a stronger food system for our communities and our climate." (GSM, based on releases from the Governor's Office and the California Department of Food and Agriculture)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国学校食堂供餐场景（资料照片）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，美国农业部发布，公共领域。Photo: A school cafeteria meal service in the United States (file photo). Source: Wikimedia Commons, U.S. Department of Agriculture, public domain.
