Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced USDA’s new framework intended to transform the food system to benefit consumers and producers, including initiatives to bolster school meal programs. As part of efforts to “shorten the supply chain” the USDA is investing $60 million to leverage increased commodity purchases through Farm-to-School. These grants to states and territories administering farm to school programs will support increased procurement and use of local foods. USDA will also allocate $100 million to create a new Healthy Food Incentive Fund, which will support SFAs in peer-to-peer learning and recognize local programs for leadership, excellence and efforts to deliver healthy foods to students.

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