Handout: USDA "Harvest to Hallways" With $145 Million for School Meals Just Launched
USDA and HHS announced a joint initiative on August 24 called Harvest to Hallways, aimed at school kitchens, local food procurement, and meal quality. If you work with schools, or your clients do, here is what is in it.
The money
The package totals roughly $145 million across several buckets:
$70 million for school cafeteria infrastructure, including cold storage, stoves, and food safety upgrades. That figure includes the $50 million equipment and food safety piece and the $20 million in National School Lunch Program Equipment Assistance Grants announced earlier.
$25 million in additional Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants for FY 2026.
$30 million from HHS, through NIH and AHRQ, to research cost-effective ways to improve school meal nutrition.
Some of the infrastructure funding can also support the establishment or expansion of School Breakfast Programs, which is worth flagging for districts that have been on the fence about breakfast.
The five parts
Local procurement. USDA will run branding, outreach, and webinars to promote the "Local Option" procurement program, which reimburses schools for locally produced foods.
Kitchen infrastructure. Equipment grants, food safety improvements, and breakfast program expansion.
Farm to School grants. More funding to bring local foods into cafeterias while opening markets for nearby farms.
Healthier meals pledge. States and foodservice companies are being encouraged to adopt the Pledge for Healthier School Meals, which aligns practice with the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines ahead of any federal requirement.
Research. HHS funding to identify practical, affordable methods for improving nutrition quality.
What the officials said
Secretary Brooke L. Rollins tied the effort to the Make America Healthy Again agenda, saying improvement "means improving what we put on their lunch trays every single day." HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. framed it as putting the updated Dietary Guidelines into action.
What to watch
USDA has not yet published application procedures or deadlines for the new grant funds, and the Harvest to Hallways landing page does not include a toolkit for school nutrition staff. If you advise districts, the practical next step is to monitor Farm to School and equipment grant notices and document kitchen equipment needs now, so a proposal is ready when the window opens.
Learn more at usda.gov/harvest-to-hallways. Press release number 0111.26.
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