Celeste Finney and Tyne Bankester

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed major shortcomings in conventional food supply chains, revealing food accessibility gaps and insecurity across the country. This event halted production and shipping of food products, creating disruptions in supply. As a result, local, shorter food pathways became more dependable and nimbler in providing food to consumers versus national or global supply chains. In response, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provided supply chain assistance funds for schools to purchase locally sourced, minimally processed agricultural items.

The USDA’s Local Food for Schools (LFS) Cooperative Agreement, announced in 2022, provided $3,393,196 to Louisiana to be spent specifically on local foods while strengthening local food systems. The LSU AgCenter farm to school team was instrumental in the planning and implementation of the LFS funding in partnership with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF). All Louisiana school districts were allocated LFS funds based on their average daily participation.

Funding specific for supporting local agriculture has many school districts heading into uncharted territory. Seeds to Success: The Louisiana Farm to School Program — the AgCenter’s Louisiana farm to school team — is behind the scenes providing procurement training and resources to help support school districts in their search for local products for their menus. Local producers interested in selling their product to Louisiana schools can fill out an inquiry form on www.seedstosuccess.com under the “Purchase Local” tab and “Finding Local Food.” Producers can also contact LDAF to be vetted and then added to a vendor list on the Seeds to Success website. Interested buyers can use that list to find local vendors’ contact information and a description of what products they sell.

Seeds to Success further supported school districts alongside the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) by offering technical assistance through webinars on procurement regulations and sourcing local products for school meal programs.

The LDOE Division of Nutrition Support has held several informational webinars since the launch of the LFS grant in spring 2023. Seeds to Success team members held virtual meetings to help answer questions and give procurement guidelines for schools who are planning to use their LFS allotment.

“This funding gives schools the opportunity to utilize the increased purchasing threshold for minimally processed agricultural items,” explained Crystal Besse, program director of Seeds to Success.

According to Louisiana R.S. 17:194(D), any governing authority of a child nutrition program may use informal acquisition procedures for small purchases up to the federal level of $250,000 to support procurement of local agricultural products and Farm to School initiatives. The dollar amount of the purchase of locally grown food can then determine the procurement process. This increased threshold means that schools can use the informal procurement process rather than formal requests for proposal or sealed bids, which would involve adequate advertising.

The Calcasieu Parish School Board is a large school district located in the southwestern corner of Louisiana. It serves about 28,000 students among 60 school sites. Jacqueline Richard, the food service director, used LFS funds to source local ground beef to make spaghetti, a popular item on their school menu.

It's a "win-win-win" for all involved: students, farms and communities in southwest Louisiana. Students were able to enjoy a scratch-cooked meal while learning about a real Louisiana cattle ranch. Richard was happy to build a relationship with a local beef producer and plans to purchase their product for the Calcasieu Parish schools’ menu “indefinitely” now that the LFS grant has helped to open the door to this new purchasing pathway.

LSU College of Agriculture alumna Tara Morris is excited to forge new markets with the help of the Local Food for Schools Cooperative in Louisiana. She is also enthusiastic about sharing lessons learned in selling to schools with other producers, as well as helping those in child nutrition understand the needs and limitations of small-scale producers. Morris led an informational session at the annual Louisiana Farm to School Conference as well as the recent Meet the Buyer, Greet the Grower event, a gathering of producers and school food authorities from across the state. Both events were hosted in early October in Baton Rouge.

Morris explained that there is a learning curve for school districts and producers alike when it comes to bringing local items to the menu. Morris shared strategies that school district child nutrition programs can use to optimize their relationships and ordering with local producers.

Morris went on to explain pertinent details, such as the yield of beef per head of cattle and that cattle need a minimum of two years to fully mature for harvest.

“We would love to be able to supply whatever our customers want; however, a rancher needs much more lead time than a national distributor to plan and fill the order,” Morris said.

Her speaking sessions both at the conference and Meet the Buyer event helped to demystify and breakdown the process for all schools in attendance who are looking to put local beef on their menu.

Although the initial LFS funding is set to expire soon, The USDA announced on Oct. 1 an additional $1.2 billion in Commodity Credit Corporation funding for the USDA Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) and Local Food for Schools (LFS) Cooperative Agreement Programs. The additional funding will provide an opportunity to continue the tremendous work of states, territories and tribal nations in building agricultural supply chain resiliency through the procurement and distribution of local foods in their communities. Of the funding, $500 million will be made available for LFS, while another $500 million will be available for LFPA. For the first time, the USDA will also provide $200 million in funds specifically for child care facilities, which face similar challenges purchasing food as schools.

Many positive and productive producer-district relationships have been built through the use of LFS funding, and the Farm to School team will continue to continue supporting producers and institutional buyers into the future.

Celeste Finney is a former extension associate for Seeds to Success: The Louisiana Farm to School Program. Tyne Bankester is the program manager for curriculum integration and MarketMaker for Seeds to Success.

This article appears in the fall 2024 edition of Louisiana Agriculture.

Josh and Tara Morris raise cattle in the area around Slaughter north of Baton Rouge. Their beef has been purchased by Louisiana schools. Photo by Tara Morris