According to the USDA’s Farm to School census, in 2019, about 68 percent of Kentucky schools reported serving local food at lunch, and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA) is aiming to raise that number through various initiatives.
These include grants under the Farm to School’s Local Food for Schools (LFS) Cooperative Agreement program, which works to provide food options from local producers to schools across the commonwealth.
Kacy McLean is the Farm to School Grants Administrator with the KDA. She said the LFS grant, totaling $3.2 million, intends to empower both food producers and school districts across the state. McLean added administrators can decide how locally they aim to source these food products.
“For the food service directors, you do have the ability to say you only want to buy food from your county or adjacent counties, and that is sometimes the case. However, you do have that ability to buy from anyone within Kentucky or within that 400 miles. So, don’t feel like you are just constrained to people within your own county,” said McLean.
To qualify for funding through the LFS program, products must be minimally processed. McLean said processed foods like chicken nuggets and fish sticks aren’t eligible for grant funding, but many other types of meat, produce, and dairy are.
“Some of these allowable products could include fruits and vegetables, hundred percent juices, pastas, and rice. You could buy meat- that can be whole, pieces, or ground meat. You can buy milk with this grant, you can do cheese, yogurt, you can do honey,” said McLean. “And then you can do that minimally processing where it can be cut, whole, pureed. It can be fresh, frozen, canned, or dried.”
These funds must be used by April 30, 2025, so she encourages all food service directors and local producers to consider participating in the program. More information on LFS and other Farm to School food programs is available at kyagr.com.