USDA Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced sweeping new efforts to strengthen school meals by connecting more American farmers with local schools, investing in school kitchen infrastructure, and giving states and school districts new tools to serve healthier, more nutrient-dense meals to America’s children.
Harvest to Hallways includes up to $70 million in investments in school cafeteria infrastructure, an effort to expand schools’ use of local food procurement options, and up to $25 million in additional Farm to School Grants for Fiscal Year 2026.
“If we want to Make America Healthy Again, we have to start with our children, and that means improving what we put on their lunch trays every single day,” said Rollins.
“Harvest to Hallways is about bringing more American agriculture into the school cafeteria. We are connecting schools with the farmers and ranchers in their own communities, investing in the kitchens and equipment school nutrition professionals need to prepare real food, and cutting through barriers that have made it too difficult to serve healthy, American-grown food. When we strengthen the connection between the farm and the lunchroom, everybody wins: our children eat better, our farmers gain new markets, and our communities grow stronger.”
“Every school meal should make a child healthier,” said Kennedy, “We are putting the updated Dietary Guidelines into action by bringing real, nutrient dense food back to school cafeterias and giving schools the tools to serve it affordably.”
The initiative includes several actions to improve school meals and strengthen the connection between American agriculture and America’s children, including expanding an existing local procurement pathway that can allow schools to be reimbursed for purchases of locally produced foods, and a new $50 million investment in school cafeteria infrastructure to help qualifying schools purchase equipment such as cold storage and stoves, improve food safety, and establish, maintain, or expand School Breakfast Program.
Additionally, there will be a Program Equipment Assistance Grants totaling $20 million, up to $25 million in new, additional Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants for FY 2026, encouraging updated nutrition practices, plus investing $30 million in research to identify practical, cost-effective ways to improve the nutritional quality of school meals and help schools put healthier meals on students’ trays.
For more about the new Harvest to Hallways initiative visit www.usda. gov/harvest-to-hallways.