Funding your Farm to School Program Nicole Zammit, RD USDA SWR - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Funding your Farm to School Program Nicole Zammit, RD USDA SWR March 10, 2015 Call number- 888-844-9904 Passcode: 8565414# uams.edu

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Overview • Federal funding streams: » USDA’s Farm to School Grant Program » Other USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) funds » Other USDA Grant and Loan programs • State funding streams: » Specialty Crop Block Grants uams.edu

Short History Lesson • Know Your Farmer Know Your Food 2008 • Geographic Preference Vilsack ‘s term • StrikeForce as Sec of Ag • USDA F2S Task Team 2010 • Section 243: F2S Grants • Increase local procurement in schools Healthy Hunger • Support school gardens Free Kids Act • Facilitate sharing of resources and information • Renames FMPP to “FM and LFPP” and provides $30 million annually • Reserve funds in the BILP for locally- and regionally- focused businesses • Advances growth of local and regional food systems with $65 million for VAPMDG 2014 Farm Bill • Provides $72.5 million annually for SCBG. • Provides new resources for organic farmers, including funding the Organic Cost Share program at $11.5 million annually • 2009- School Garden Q&As, Procurement Q&As, Geographic Preference • 2011/12- Geographic Preference Q&As (2) Policy Memos • 2012- Increase Small Purchase Threshold • 2014-F2S and School Garden Expenses uams.edu

USDA F2S Grant Program uams.edu

Access to Local Foods (Section 243 HHFKA) The Secretary shall create a Farm to School Program to: Distribute grant funding to improve access to local 1. foods in schools. Provide technical assistance and information to: 2. » Facilitate the coordination and sharing of information. » Collect and share information on best practices. » Disseminate research and data on existing programs and opportunities for expansion. uams.edu

National Staff Christina Conell Deborah Kane Local Procurement, National Director USDA Foods Maggie Gosselin Matt Benson Technical Assistance, Research, Census Training Carmen Quizon Matt Russell Communications, Grant Program Grant Program, General Support uams.edu

USDA Farm to School Regional Leads Bob Gorman Mountain Plains Vanessa Zajfen Midwest Danielle Fleury Northeast Kacie O’Brien Tegan Hagy Western Mid-Atlantic Nicole Zammit Samantha Southwest Benjamin-Kirk Southeast uams.edu

USDA Farm to School Grant Program • Award up to $5.0 million annually, for: » Training » Supporting operations; » Planning; » Purchasing equipment; » Developing school gardens; » Developing partnerships; » Implementing farm to school programs; » State or regional conferences or events uams.edu

Types of Grants Planning ($20,000 - $45,000 over 1 year) • school districts or individual schools just starting to incorporate farm to school » program elements into their operations Implementation ($65,000 - $100,000 over 1-2 years) • school districts or schools to help scale or further develop existing farm to school » initiatives Support Service ($65,000 - $100,000 over 1-2 years) • state and local agencies, Indian tribal organizations, agricultural producers or » groups of agricultural producers, and non-profit entities working with school districts Conference/Event grants ($15,000 - $50,000 over 1 year) • open to all interested parties. Intended to support conferences, events and » trainings that strengthen farm to school supply chains, or conferences, events and trainings that provide technical assistance in the area of local procurement, food safety, culinary education and integration of agriculture-based curriculum. uams.edu

Awarded Projects Osage Hills Schools Bartlesville, OK Planning; $44,847 Pryor Public Schools Pryor, OK Planning; $45,000 Chickasaw Nation Stilwell Public Schools Nutrition Services Stilwell, Oklahoma Implementation: $99,994 Planning; $41,535 uams.edu

F2S State Conference Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute Conference and Event – Regional ; $49,918 Building on our farm to school work through the Arkansas Grow Healthy Study, we will conduct multiple regional summits in the spring and summer of 2015. Attendees will include local farmers, child nutrition staff, city administrators, health professionals, education professionals, and community members (up to 50 attendees per summit). uams.edu

F2S Grant Trends FY13-15 USDA Farm to School Grant Program Applications and Awards Summary: FY 2013—FY 2015 Total Percent of Total Funds Percent of Total Dollars Cumulative State Applications Distributed in Funds Distributed in Distributed (FY13-FY15) Funded FY 2013 - FY 2015 FY 2013 - FY 2015 (Rank) Applications Awards Arkansas * 13 (31-t) 5 (15-t) 38% (4-t) $326,697 2.2% 19 Louisiana * 11 (37-t) 4 (20-t) 36% (6) $214,993 1.4% 26 New Mexico * 16 (24-t) 5 (15-t) 31% (10-t) $320,505 2.1% 20 Oklahoma 17 (21-t) 4 (20-t) 24% (26) $231,376 1.5% 24 Texas * 16 (24-t) 3 (26-t) 19% (32-t) $187,819 1.2% 34 Southwest 73 (7) 21 (7) 29% (1) $1,281,390 8.5% 7 National 1,067 221 21% $15,075,771 100.0% - TOTAL * A state that includes StrikeForce counties. Note: Numbers in parentheses represent state/region rank. Within the chart, “t” signifies a tie in rank. uams.edu

Schools are a captive audience… FY14 (Oct 1, 2013 – Oklahoma Nationally Sept 30, 2014) Total Lunches Served 67,828,375 5,007,717,060 ADP 404,511 30,339,021 Lunch Cost $176,097,324 $12,621,181,733 Participating Sites 1,864 >101,000 F/R% F:62.6% R:9.84% F:63.5% R:8.0% Total Breakfasts Served 34,944,522 2,265,894,043 Breakfast Cost $55,303,230 $3,672,773,804 uams.edu

Farm to School: Kids Love It! uams.edu

Timeline • Mid March Request for Applications announced (FY 2016 RFA forthcoming) » • Late March » Live webinar that covers details of all 4 grant track • Late April Applications due April 30 by midnight EST » • October/November Awards announced » uams.edu

F2S Grant Resources USDA F2S Website: Google USDA F2S or write down site- • http://www.fns.usda.gov/farmtoschool/farm-school-grant- program Available on ‘Grants’ tab: • Click here to view an archived copy of the FY2015 RFA » Click here to read about funded project » For grant writing tips, check out the "Sustaining Your Program" training » module Available on ‘Videos and Webinars’ tab: • Farm to School personnel summarize trends observed in successful FY 2013 » USDA Farm to School Grant applications. Watch the live recording here uams.edu

FNS Program Funds uams.edu

FNS Program Funds Federal cash reimbursement (nonprofit food service account • funds) local foods and school gardens » Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) • local foods and educational opportunity » USDA Foods/DoD Fresh • local foods » State Administrative Expense (SAE) funds • State-level farm to school trainings, materials, activities » Memo for SA is in the works! » uams.edu

School Garden Memo Available on ‘Procuring Local Foods’ tab Farm to School and School Garden Expenses Purpose of funds: To operate or improve a school meals program that serves nutritious meals meeting the meal pattern requirements Federal reimbursement dollars can support school gardens and F2S activities uams.edu

Allowable Expenses • Nutrition education and Taste tests • Aiding in the procurement process • Purchasing food from school garden • Marketing support (printing signs, table tents, posters) • Garden supplies and equipment (seeds, fertilizer, water cans, rakes, gloves, shovels) • Movable structures (hoop houses, high tunnels) • Labor (School Garden or F2S Coordinator) uams.edu

FFVP, USDA Foods, and DoD Fresh The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) provides FY 2012-13 FY 2013-14 reimbursement for fresh fruits Sites 110 116 and fresh vegetables served Number of 49,472 51,917 kids free to elementary students Total Fed during the school day and 2,595,921 2,627,660 reimburse outside the lunch and Purchased Quantity Purchased Value breakfast meals. (Lbs) ($) 2012 4,905,880.00 7,006,735.27 USDA Foods- Purchasing trends 2013 4,693,080.0 6,435,650.89 Beef, chicken, peanut butter, 2014 flour, cornmeal, crackers 3,718,760.00 3,514,120.65 uams.edu

Other USDA Grants uams.edu

Specialty Crop Block Grant The purpose of the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) is to solely enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops. Specialty crops are defined as “fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture).“ 2014 Nationally Arkansas Dollars Available $66,000,000 $657,370.85 Projects Funded 839 16 uams.edu