Real food · Local farms · Our kids
See what your state lost — and help bring it back.
The federal program that paid schools to buy fresh food from nearby farms was cancelled. Choose your state to see the impact where you live.
What was cut
They cancelled the program. We kept the receipts.
The Local Food for Schools program paid schools to buy fresh food straight from nearby farms — strawberries, carrots, ground beef, milk — and put it on lunch trays. In March 2025, the funding was cancelled.
Schools lost the budget overnight. The farmers who planted for those contracts ate the loss. This isn't left or right. It's lunch.
By the numbers
The food on our kids' trays has changed.
In one generation, real food got crowded out. Packaged, shelf-stable food took its place — at home, and on the tray at school. Here's what that swap looks like, and what it's costing our kids.
Most of what kids eat is ultra-processed.
Nearly two-thirds of the average American kid's daily calories now come from ultra-processed food — the packaged, factory-made stuff built to sit on a shelf, not grow on a farm.
Source: CDC / National Center for Health Statistics, 2021–2023The plate filled up slowly.
This crept in over decades. As fresh food got harder to keep on the menu, the cheap, shelf-stable kind quietly took over more of the plate.
Today the plate is burgers and sandwiches, sweet baked goods, snacks, pizza, and sugary drinks.
School is where we can change it.
For a lot of kids, school meals are the most dependable food they get all day. When fresh, local food gets cut from the budget, shelf-stable processed food fills the gap.
That's the gap Local Food for Schools was built to close — $660M to put farm-fresh food directly on school trays. It was cancelled in 2025.
Wisconsin alone lost $14.9M.
Sources: Ultra-processed share, current — CDC/NCHS Data Brief No. 536 (Aug 2025), NHANES 2021–2023: youth 61.9%. Ultra-processed climb (1999→2018, 61%→67%) and whole-food share (23.5%) — Wang et al., JAMA 2021. These two figures come from different studies with different methods; both land near two-thirds, and the most recent CDC data shows a slight dip from the 2018 peak. Obesity — CDC/NCHS Health E-Stat 112 (Feb 2026): 21.1% (2021–23) vs 5.2% (1971–74). Food allergies — CDC/NHIS via FARE: +50% (1997–2011) and again +50% (2007–2021). Local Food for Schools: $660M (schools only), cancelled March 2025 (USDA). Wisconsin total across both rounds: $14.9M. Full citations on our sources page.
See your state
Choose your state. See exactly what your schools lost.
Every state felt this differently. Look up yours, then share it with someone who cares.
How we bring it back
Three steps.
Look it up
Choose your state and see exactly what your schools lost — the dollars, the schools, the farms.
Share with someone who cares
Send it to a neighbor, a parent group, your PTA. The more people see it, the harder it is to ignore.
Tell Congress to restore it
Sign the petition to the senators voting on the next farm bill — where this funding used to live — asking them to bring it back.
Voices from the lunch line
Tell Congress to bring it back.
We're petitioning the senators who will vote on the next farm bill — where this funding used to live — to restore fresh, local food for schools. Add your name and we'll deliver it together.
Sign the petitionAdding your name signs the petition. No spam, no fundraising asks.