This bill would add a "Local Foods for Healthy Schools Program" to the Agricultural Marketing Act. The Secretary of Agriculture would make noncompetitive cooperative agreements with eligible State agencies to buy local foods from covered producers and send those foods to schools. Eligible units can either purchase and distribute local foods to interested school food authorities or give funds to those authorities to buy local foods. An eligible unit may reserve up to 5 percent of received funds for training and technical assistance, food safety certification costs for producers, oversight and reporting, and administration. Applications must include a plan naming a lead agency, any community partners, how funds will be used, and a statement that funds will supplement, not supplant, State funds. The Secretary must use an allocation formula that gives each State an equal base amount and then distributes remaining funds based on the number of students receiving school meals; no more than 30 percent of total funds may go to the equal-State portion. States must report within 90 days after funds are required to be spent and publish reports on the State educational agency website showing amounts spent, the covered producers who received funds, and the foods purchased. Funding in the bill includes $200,000,000 each fiscal year from the Commodity Credit Corporation and an authorization to appropriate $200,000,000 each year; up to 0.50 percent of funds may be reserved for Federal administration. The bill defines covered producers, eligible units of government, local foods, schools, school food authorities, Secretary, and State (including territories).
No publicly available information.
No publicly available information.