FNS Documents & Resources

USDA Foods from Farm to Plate e-letters feature resources, news, and best practices, rotating our monthly focus between a trio of program-specific e-letters.

Find resources to implement, sustain and maintain your farm to school program. 

The USDA Foods Toolkit is a collection of valuable resources to assist child nutrition professionals in effectively using their USDA Food entitlement and to help them educate students, staff, and the community about the healthy contributions that USDA Foods provide to their meal programs.

Factsheets are available under the following topics: Farm to School Grant Program, Farm to School Program Resources, Local Food Resources, School Gardens, Farm to School in Tribal Communities, Food Safety, Producers, Farm to Preschool. Farm to Summer, State Agencies and Cooperative Extensions, En Español.

Designed to increase the availability of local foods in schools, Patrick Leahy Farm to School grants can help farm to school programs get started or expand existing efforts. Funds support a wide range of activities from training, planning, and developing partnerships to creating new menu items, establishing supply chains, offering taste tests to children, purchasing equipment, planting school gardens, and organizing field trips to agricultural operations.

Progress reports for each of the Farm to School Grants awarded in 2021.

This fact sheet presents effective strategies for supporting community food systems.

This fact sheet, available in both English and Spanish, reviews the steps to successfully integrate local food in child nutrition programs.

This factsheet gives examples, tips, and information for putting local meat on school menus.  

This factsheet explains how USDA Foods support the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the school meal pattern requirements to make it easier for schools to prepare healthy meals using local foods.