Iowa school nutrition programs get a financial boost to go local

It’s been a busy week at the state level for school nutrition legislation. Over a hundred schools and districts in Iowa will have access to new grant funding from the state to help them offer more local foods in school meals. And meanwhile in Nevada, Governor Joe Lombardo is defending his decision to veto a bill that would have provided universal free school meals to students in the state this upcoming school year.

Here’s what you may have missed in school nutrition legislation.

Iowa to provide farm-to-school funding

Iowa is the latest state to provide a financial boost to farm-to-school programs. Earlier this week, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced that the state will be providing $2,000 grants to 137 schools and districts across the state to help them purchase local foods for their school nutrition programs.

The grant funding is part of the state’s Local Food for Schools program which launched in 2022.

“With another school year off and running, I’m excited to see more connections being made between school lunch programs and local farmers,” said Secretary Naig in a statement. “These grants provide yet another way that we can assist our schools with providing fresh and nutritious meals while also fortifying supply chains and building market demand for Iowa farmers. Because of Choose Iowa and programs like Local Food for Schools, many Iowa farmers are building long-term capacity to serve larger buyers like schools. As a result, these established connections between schools, food hubs and farmers can continue on well into the future.”

A handful of states have also provided grant funding to support farm-to-school efforts in recent months, including New York and Pennsylvania. 

At the federal level, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a record-breaking $14.3 million in farm-to-school grant funding as part of its Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program last month. The grants will support 54 projects in 43 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico and reach 1.9 million children, according to the department

Nevada governor defends no longer offering universal free school meals

As Nevada students return to classrooms this fall, they’re also returning to paying for school meals.

Nevada has been providing universal free school meals to all students in the state since the expiration of the USDA’s child nutrition waivers which were introduced during the pandemic and allowed schools across the country to feed all students for free.

After the expiration of the waivers in June 2022, the state used federal funding from the American Rescue Plan to continue offering the free meals through the 2023-24 school year.

Lawmakers introduced and passed a bill that would extend the free meals through the upcoming 2024-25 school year, but Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo vetoed it.

In a letter to parents last week, Lombardo reiterated his commitment to Nevada students and shared that students in need will still be able to receive free school meals this year through things like the USDA’s Community Eligibility Program (CEP) which allows schools in high poverty areas to provide school meals to all students for free.

“With 80.6 percent of students automatically eligible through their school’s CEP status, direct certification for students enrolled in a federal benefits program, and applications available for families to apply for free or reduced-price meals, my administration is confident that every student in need can receive free school meals,” he wrote.

See which states currently offer universal free meals via the map below: