RFA Decision Document.pdf

Food and Nutrition Service, Braddock Metro Center, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314

USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer, and Lender

Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program Grant Track Decision Document

This document is a resource that will help you decide which FY 2025 Farm to School grant track is right for your project. It provides a quick overview of the three grant tracks and the objective, eligible entity list, and example activities for each. This document does not serve as a replacement for the Request for Applications (RFA). Once you decide the correct track, follow the link to the RFA that’s right for you to find detailed information about the application components and required documents for submission for that track. Read the corresponding RFA in full before submitting an application!

All 2025 Grant Types:

Will be awarded for a 24-month period.

Must include a funding match of at least 25 percent of the total project cost from non-federal sources.

Must improve access to local foods in eligible Child Nutrition Program sites.

All projects must support Child Nutrition Program participants. Consequently, if you as the lead applicant do not operate the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), and/or the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), you must include at least one letter of commitment from a participating school, childcare facility, or summer sponsor operating the NSLP, SBP CACFP, and/or SFSP, or from a State Agency administering NSLP, SBP, CACFP, and/or the SFSP.

Past grantees have specific eligibility requirements based on the type of past grant and grant year. Please see the eligibility section of the chosen RFA for specific details.

For examples of projects that USDA funded in the past, see the Grant Awards page of the Farm to School website: https://www.fns.usda.gov/f2s/grant/awards

Which Grant Track is Right for You?

Find the entity you identify with in the chart below. Then, see which grant track may be right for you!

Which Entity Type are You? Consider Applying for this Grant Track

Eligible schools, including non-profit private and charter schools, which operate the NSLP and/or SBP

Implementation or Turnkey

Eligible child care institutions, including non-school based institutions that have an agreement with the State agency to operate CACFP

Implementation or Turnkey https://www.usda.gov https://www.fns.usda.gov/f2s/grant/awards

Food and Nutrition Service, Braddock Metro Center, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314

USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider, Employer, and Lender

Implementation Grant (click here) The Implementation grant may be right for you if you have an established farm to school program that you’re interested in expanding or a proposed project that will undertake both local sourcing and agricultural education activities.

• Objective: Improve access to local foods in eligible CNP sites through comprehensive farm to school programming that includes local sourcing and agricultural education efforts.

• Funding available: $50,000 - $100,000; funding up to $500,000 is available for Indian Tribal Organizations and applicants meeting specific multi-State criteria described in the RFA.

Turnkey Grants (click here) The Turnkey Grant may be right for you if you have limited or no farm to school experience, or if you have a specific project in mind and want to submit a simplified application. Turnkey applicants fill in an application template and commit to completing the activities specified in the RFA.

• Objective: There are three types of Turnkey Grants, each with a specific focus and objective:

o Turnkey Action Planning: Develop a Farm to School Action Plan to facilitate launching or scaling farm to school activities.

o Turnkey Edible Gardens: Plan, implement, and evaluate a food production operation that produces food for CNP operations.

o Turnkey Agricultural Education: Plan, implement, and evaluate the integration of farm to school topics into CNP sites’ curriculum.

• Funding available: $5,000 - $50,000

State Agency Grant (click here) The State Agency grant may be right for you if are a State Agency looking to promote agricultural education and increase the amount of local food served by eligible CNP operators.

• Objective: Promote agricultural education and increase the amount of local food served in eligible CNP operators by funding State agencies to support and grow farm to CNP efforts in their States.

• Funding available: $50,000 - $500,000

Eligible summer sponsors, including non-school based institutions that have an agreement with the State agency to operate SFSP

Implementation or Turnkey

Local agencies Implementation or Turnkey

Indian Tribal Organizations Implementation or Turnkey

Agricultural producers Implementation or Turnkey

Non-profit entities Implementation or Turnkey

State agency State Agency https://www.usda.gov https://grants.gov/search-results-detail/356877 https://grants.gov/search-results-detail/356876 https://grants.gov/search-results-detail/356878