Specialty Crop

The USDA FNS Patrick Leahy Farm to School Program helps child nutrition program operators incorporate local foods in the National School Lunch Program, Summer Food Service Program (aka SUN Meals), Child and Adult Care Food Program, and all associated programs. In addition, USDA staff work with tribal communities by promoting food sovereignty and the integration of traditional food ways into tribal meal programs.

Approximately 67,000 schools nationwide participate in the Patrick Leahy Farm to School Program, including schools within about 20 districts across Wyoming (see Wyoming Farm to School listing in the Statewide section).

Designed to increase the availability of local foods in schools, USDA Farm to School grants can help local farm-to-school programs get started or expand existing efforts. Funds support a wide range of activities from training, planning, and developing partnerships to creating new menu items, establishing supply chains, offering taste tests to children, purchasing equipment, planting school gardens, and organizing fieldtrips to agricultural operations.

Grantees include schools and school districts, Indian tribal organizations, agricultural producers and groups of producers, nonprofit entities, and state and local agencies. The website below includes a list of awardees from fiscal year 2013 through present, along with details about each program.

No grants were awarded to entities in Wyoming in FY 2024 or 2023.

Wyoming entities that have received grants in the past include Wyoming Department of Education (two grants totaling about $161,000); Youth Emergency Services in Gillette ($50,000); Casper Community Greenhouse Project ($50,000; see Natrona County section); Casper Housing Authority CARES ($50,000); Fremont County School District 38 in Arapahoe ($33,106); and Center for Popular Education, Research and Policy in Fort Washakie ($23,555).