USDA Releases Farm-to-School Funding After Earlier Cancellation
September 12, 2025 | Source: Civil Eats | by Lisa Held
September 12, 2025 – Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced yesterday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making the largest single-year investment to date in a popular farm-to-school grant program, while streamlining the application process.
The announcement failed to mention the USDA’s earlier cancellation of the same program’s 2025 funding, and experts say the money is unlikely to make up for other recent cuts making it harder for schools to source local food.
Rollins shared the news in support of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission Strategy agenda, which said the Trump administration would improve farm-to-school grants to better connect local producers to schools. “These grants will open new doors for small family farms, expand access to healthy food in schools, and inspire the next generation of Great American Farmers,” she said in a press release.
The program in question, called the Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program, has been running for more than a decade. Congress created it under the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act, championed by former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, and lawmakers first funded it in 2013.