Partnerships for Local Agriculture & Nutrition Transformation in Schools (PLANTS)

Partnerships for Local Agriculture & Nutrition Transformation in Schools (PLANTS) is sponsored by USDA Food and Nutrition Service. Partnerships for Local Agriculture & Nutrition Transformation in Schools (PLANTS) is a grant from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service that funds collaborative school food system transformation projects.

We awarded four cooperative agreements to Boise State University, Chef Ann Foundation, Full Plates Full Potential, and Illinois Public Health Institute to develop and implement Healthy Meals Incentives School Food System Transformation Challenge Sub-Grants.

The sub-grants will support collaborative projects between school districts, food producers, suppliers, distributors, and/or community partners to stimulate the creation of a resilient and nutritious school food system. Below is a list of sub-grant awardees for each of the four cooperators and how to learn more about the transformational work they have planned. At the bottom is an interactive map featuring all awardees funded to date.

### Center for School and Community Partnerships at Boise State University The first round of recipients for the Supporting Community Agriculture and Local Education Systems (Project SCALES) sub-grants were awarded to 12 rural school districts. The second round of sub-grants were awarded to nine school districts across rural, urban, and suburban locations and industry professionals.

* **Attica Central School District, New York** Growing Minds with Attica Meals * **Chariho Regional School District, Rhode Island** Growing Together: Empowering Schools and Communities to Connect with Local Food Systems * **Concrete School District, Washington** Teaching and Feeding Students with Local, Seasonal Agriculture * **Eastern Allamakee Community School District, Iowa** * **Gooding Joint School District, Idaho** Locally Sourced, Community Strong: Elevating School Meals for a Sustainable Tomorrow * **Inchelium School District, Washington** Celebrating Local Traditions * **Marsing School District, Idaho** Homegrown for Healthy Roots: A Regional School Food System * **Nevada City School of the Arts (NCSA), California** NCSA’s Nourish Collective * **Petersburg Borough School District, Alaska** Growing Together: Enhancing School Nutrition through Farm Collaborations and Innovative Transportation Solutions in Southeast Alaska * **Springville Griffith Institute, New York** Harvest to Plate, Farm to Cafeteria, Meat Processing Project * **Yosemite Unified School District, California** Improving School Meals through Farm to Fork * **Yuba Environmental Science (YES) Charter Academy, California** The YES Community Project * **Cuyahoga County Board of Health** Distributor-Embedded Value Chain Coordinators to Grow the Food System * **Greenville County Schools Food and Nutrition Services (FANS)** Leveraging Community Partnerships for Sustainable Local Foods to Schools Sprouted for Success: Nourishing the Next Generation * **Northeast Organic Farming Association** Bridging the Gap – Supply Chain Transformation for Vermont School Meals Expanding Bay2Tray: Advancing Impact with Blue Catfish in School Meals * **Special School District (Minneapolis)** Guidebook for Local Supply Chain Development in School Nutrition * **The Montana Partnership to End Childhood Hunger** Investing in Montana School Food-System Transformation to Reach 33 x 33 * **Virgin Islands Good Food** SCALING GOOD: A Prototype for Local Food Transformation for Territories and Islands * **Washington State University Clallam** North Olympic LEARNS: Leveraging Agri-food systems for Resilient rural Networks and Schools Boise State University’s Center for School and Community Partnerships is working with school nutrition directors and partners over a two-year period to build partnerships for innovative solutions to increase local procurement in school meal programs.

The first round of grant awardees received up to $150,000 each. The second round of grant awardees received up to $1 million each. To learn more about the Project SCALES grantees, view this spreadsheet and visit Project SCALES.

There are eight recipients for the Partnerships for Local Agriculture and Nutrition Transformation in Schools (PLANTS) sub-grants. Sub-grants were awarded to school districts in rural, urban, and suburban locations and to community-based food system stakeholders.

* **Anchorage Student Nutrition Food System Transformation, Alaska** Anchorage School District * **Building an Equitable, Resilient Regional Supply Chain for K-12 Schools in New England, Massachusetts** * **Detroit Farms Growing the Whole Child, Michigan** Detroit Public Schools Community District Office of School Nutrition * **Increasing School Nutrition Quality in Central and Eastern Washington through Local Food Value Chain Coordination and Scratch Cooking Assistance, Washington** Northeast Washington Educational Service District 101 * **Iowa Farm to School Training Collaborative: Building Resilience and Capacity for the Future of Farm to School in Iowa, Iowa** Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development * **Local GREENS (Growing Resilient Equitable Ecosystem for Nutrition in Schools) Muskegon County, Michigan** Muskegon Area Intermediate School District * **New Roots Community Farm Project, West Virginia** * **Sea-to-School for Student Health, Vibrant Communities, and a Thriving Seafood Economy, Maine** Gulf of Maine Research Institute Chef Ann Foundation is working with these recipients to transform school food supply chains through systemic approaches to strengthening relationships among community-based food system stakeholders and school food authorities as well as expand scratch cooking in schools.

Grant awards are up to $600,000 each. To learn more about PLANTS and the grantee projects, view this spreadsheet or visit The Lunch Box. ### Full Plates Full Potential There are seven recipients for the School Food System Innovation Grant.

Grants were awarded to Maine-based school districts, farmers, fishers, and other local businesses in the local school food system.

* **Auburn Public Schools, Maine** * **Five Pillars Butchery, Maine** Halal Meal Production Lab * **Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, Maine** Fisherman Feeding K-12 Mainers * **Maine Food Strategy/Maine Food Convergence, Maine** Streamlining Access to Maine Grown K-12 Products * **RSU 54/MSAD 54, Maine** Somerset County Farm to School Initiative * **The Good Crust, Maine** Full Plates Full Potential is working with these recipients over a four-year period to support their innovative and collaborative pilot projects that reimagine Maine’s school food system with the potential to be sustained and/or scaled in other regions.

Grant awards are up to $1. 5 million each. To learn more about Full Plates Full Potential and the grantee projects, view this spreadsheet or visit Full Plates Full Potential.

### Illinois Public Health Institute and the Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub There are 16 recipients in round one and 16 recipients in round two of the Spark and Innovation Collaborative Awards. Grants for all rounds were awarded to school districts and farmers, food producers, suppliers, distributors, nonprofit organizations, and other entities working in the local food system.

* **Greater Wabash Food Council, Illinois** Planting Farm2School in Southeastern Illinois * **Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Michigan** Workshops to Expand Local Purchasing in Schools * **Northeast Wisconsin (NEW) Hmong Professionals, Wisconsin** Introducing Hmong Cultural Food to the School System * **Rooted School Indy, Indiana** * **Rooted WI, Inc., Wisconsin** * **The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, Wisconsin** Growing Capacity and Connections for Hmong Focused Farm to School * **The Common Market Great Lakes, Illinois** Lowering Adoption Barrier to Regionally Sourced Foods in Chicagoland Schools **Innovation Collaborative Award** * **Artisan Grains Collaborative, Illinois** * **Beyond Green, Illinois** Buy Local, Cook Fresh Illinois * **FoodRight Inc., Wisconsin** * **Hundred Acre LLC, Wisconsin** Bringing Fresh Salad Greens to Schools in Wisconsin * **Madison Consolidated Schools, Indiana** * **Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, Wisconsin** * **Partridge Creek Farm, Michigan** * **REAP Food Group, Wisconsin** School Nutrition Culinary Innovators of Tomorrow * **Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative, Wisconsin** Building a Farm to School Logistics and Pricing Model for the Great Lakes Region * **Common Threads, Illinois** Building a Farm to School Logistics and Pricing Model for the Great Lakes Region Michigan School Local Food Readiness Audit (LFRA) - Local Food Made Easy * **Green Bridge Growers, Indiana** Finding What's Fresh: Student-Led Innovations for a Resilient Food System * **Howard-Suamico School District, Wisconsin** Reimagining School Milk: Modernizing Service and Enhancing Taste * **Monroe County Community School Corporation (MCCSC), Indiana** MCCSC F.

R. E. S.

H.

I (Food, Relationships, Education, and School Health Initiative) * **NEW HMong, Wisconsin** Nourish to Flourish: A Community-Driven Model for Inclusive School Food Systems * **Pilot Light, Illinois** Classroom to Cafeteria - Elevating Awareness of Midwest-grown Foods through Integration of Sourcing and Impactful Student/Parent Education * **Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, Michigan** The HARVEST Hub Project: A Policy Anchored School Food Innovation Model * **Whitehall District Schools, Michigan** Grow a Salad Bar, Produce a Meal!

**Innovation Collaborative Award** * **Basil’s Harvest, Illinois** Resilient Operations & Outcomes for Transforming School Food Systems (ROOTS) * **Chippewa Valley Produce LLC, Wisconsin** The Super Transport Cooperative: Paving the Way for Increased Supply to Schools Statewide * **Eastern Market Corporation, Michigan** Detroit Fresh Futures Initiative (DFFI) * **Menominee Indian School District, Wisconsin** Rising Suns Continued: Path to Intertribal Procurement * **Southern Illinois Hospital Services d/b/a Southern Illinois Healthcare, Illinois** Southern Illinois Healthy Schools * **What Chefs Want, Indiana** Leveraging DOD Fresh and Partnerships for Farm to School Transformation * **Wittkamp Grain and Vegetable LLC, Michigan** Growing the School Food System: Students, Farmers, and Schools The Illinois Public Health Institute and the Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub is working with the Spark and Innovation Collaborative Awards recipients throughout the grant period to support school food system and marketplace improvements and promote systems-level change.

Grant awards are up to $100,000 each for Spark Awards recipients and up to $500,000 each for Innovation Collaborative Awards recipients. To learn more about the awardees, view this spreadsheet. For more information about the round two RFA, visit Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub.

### [](https://www. fns. usda.

gov/school-meals/hmi/school-food-system-transformation-challenge)Awardee Spotlight Below is an interactive map featuring all sub-grant awardees to date. Click on the box in the upper left corner to display or hide the legend. Click on each star to read about each awardee’s project and partners.

Page updated: June 09, 2026