II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2026 

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to reauthorize 

the farm to school program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 27, 2019 

Mr. LEAHY (for himself, Mr. PERDUE, Mr. BROWN, and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 

Act to reauthorize the farm to school program, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Farm to School Act 

5 of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ACCESS TO LOCAL FOODS: FARM TO SCHOOL PRO7 GRAM. 

8 Section 18(g) of the Richard B. Russell National 

9 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769(g)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

2 (A) by striking the paragraph designation 

3 and heading and all that follows through 

4 ‘‘means’’ and inserting the following: 

5 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

6 ‘‘(A) AGRICULTURAL PRODUCER.—The 

7 term ‘agricultural producer’ means a farmer, 

8 rancher, or fisher (including of farm-raised 

9 fish). 

10 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term 

11 ‘eligible institution’ means’’; and 

12 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(C) FARM TO SCHOOL PROGRAM.—The 

14 term ‘farm to school program’ means a pro15 gram that— 

16 ‘‘(i) benefits an eligible institution, as 

17 determined by the Secretary; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) carries out— 

19 ‘‘(I) planting and maintenance of 

20 farms or gardens; 

21 ‘‘(II) procurement from local ag22 ricultural producers; or 

23 ‘‘(III) educational activities relat24 ing to agriculture, nutrition, or food.’’; 

25 (2) in paragraph (2)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘schools’’ each place it ap2 pears and inserting ‘‘institutions’’; 

3 (B) by inserting ‘‘land-grant colleges and 

4 universities,’’ before ‘‘and nonprofit’’; and 

5 (C) by striking ‘‘grants and technical as6 sistance’’ and inserting ‘‘grants, technical as7 sistance, research, and evaluation’’; 

8 (3) in paragraph (3)— 

9 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

10 (i) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘and 

11 technical assistance’’ after ‘‘training’’; 

12 (ii) by redesignating clauses (vi) and 

13 (vii) as clauses (vii) and (viii), respectively; 

14 and 

15 (iii) by inserting after clause (v) the 

16 following: 

17 ‘‘(vi) implementing educational activi18 ties relating to agriculture, nutrition, or 

19 food;’’; and 

20 (B) by striking subparagraph (C) and in21 serting the following: 

22 ‘‘(C) IMPROVED PROCUREMENT AND DIS23 TRIBUTION.— 

24 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In awarding 

25 grants under this subsection, the Secretary 


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1 shall seek to improve local food procure2 ment and distribution options for agricul3 tural producers and eligible institutions. 

4 ‘‘(ii) AGGREGATION, PROCESSING, 

5 TRANSPORTATION, AND DISTRIBUTION.— 

6 In advancing local food procurement op7 tions and other farm to school program ob8 jectives, the Secretary may provide funding 

9 for projects that include innovative ap10 proaches to aggregation, processing, trans11 portation, and distribution. 

12 ‘‘(D) AWARDS.— 

13 ‘‘(i) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The total 

14 amount provided to a grant recipient under 

15 this subsection shall not exceed $250,000. 

16 ‘‘(ii) TERM.—The term of an award 

17 shall not exceed 3 years. 

18 ‘‘(iii) PURPOSE AND SCOPE.—In mak19 ing awards under this subsection, the Sec20 retary shall seek to make awards of diverse 

21 amounts and duration in order to best 

22 match the award to the purpose and scope 

23 of the project to be funded. 

24 ‘‘(E) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may 

25 not award a grant under this subsection if the 


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1 grant funds would be used solely for the pur2 pose of carrying out a conference.’’; 

3 (4) in paragraph (4)— 

4 (A) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, 

5 Tribal,’’ after ‘‘State’’; and 

6 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(C) TRIBAL AGENCIES.—The Secretary 

8 may allow a Tribal agency to use funds pro9 vided to the Indian Tribe of the Tribal agency 

10 through a Federal agency (including the Indian 

11 Health Service) or any other Federal benefit to 

12 satisfy all or part of the non-Federal share de13 scribed in subparagraph (A) if that use is con14 sistent with the purpose of the funds or other 

15 Federal benefit provided.’’; 

16 (5) in paragraph (5)— 

17 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 

18 through (F) and (G) as clauses (i) through (vi) 

19 and (ix), respectively, and indenting the clauses 

20 appropriately; 

21 (B) in the matter preceding clause (i) (as 

22 so redesignated), by striking ‘‘To the maximum 

23 extent practicable’’ and inserting the following: 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To the maximum ex25 tent practicable’’; 


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1 (C) in clause (i) (as so redesignated), by 

2 striking ‘‘school’’ and inserting ‘‘institution’’; 

3 (D) in clause (ii) (as so redesignated), by 

4 striking ‘‘lunches’’ and inserting ‘‘meals’’; 

5 (E) by striking clause (iii) (as so redesig6 nated) and inserting the following: 

7 ‘‘(iii)(I) incorporate experiential and 

8 traditional and culturally appropriate food, 

9 nutrition, or agricultural education activi10 ties in curriculum planning; and 

11 ‘‘(II) serve a high proportion of chil12 dren from socially disadvantaged back13 grounds;’’; 

14 (F) in clause (iv) (as so redesignated), by 

15 striking ‘‘eligible schools’’ and all that follows 

16 through ‘‘partners’’ and inserting ‘‘eligible insti17 tutions, State and local agencies, Tribal organi18 zations and agencies, agricultural producers or 

19 groups of agricultural producers, land-grant col20 leges and universities, and nonprofit entities’’; 

21 (G) in clause (vi) (as so redesignated), by 

22 striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

23 (H) by inserting after clause (vi) (as so re24 designated) the following: 


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1 ‘‘(vii) expand the selection of local 

2 commodities for eligible institutions; 

3 ‘‘(viii) identify and address chronic 

4 diet-related health issues of the children 

5 served by eligible institutions; and’’; and 

6 (I) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(B) TRIBAL COMMUNITY PROJECTS.—In 

8 the case of projects serving Tribal communities, 

9 the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent 

10 practicable, give highest priority to projects 

11 that best utilize products, including traditional 

12 foods, from Tribal agricultural producers, as 

13 determined by the Secretary.’’; 

14 (6) in paragraph (7)— 

15 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 

16 through (C) as clauses (i) through (iii), respec17 tively, and indenting appropriately; 

18 (B) by striking the paragraph designation 

19 and heading and all that follows through ‘‘non20 profit entities—’’ and inserting the following: 

21 ‘‘(7) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND RE22 SEARCH.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

24 provide technical assistance, research, and in25 formation to assist eligible institutions, State 


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1 and local agencies, Indian Tribal organizations, 

2 agricultural producers or agricultural producer 

3 groups, and nonprofit entities—’’; 

4 (C) in subparagraph (A) (as so des5 ignated)— 

6 (i) in clause (ii) (as so redesignated), 

7 by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

8 (ii) in clause (iii) (as so redesignated), 

9 by striking the period at the end and in10 serting ‘‘; and’’; and 

11 (iii) by adding at the end the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(iv) to increase awareness of, and 

14 participation in, farm to school programs 

15 among agricultural and aquaculture pro16 ducers or agricultural producer groups, in17 cluding— 

18 ‘‘(I) beginning farmers and 

19 ranchers (as defined in section 

20 2501(a) of the Food, Agriculture, 

21 Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 

22 (7 U.S.C. 2279(a))); 

23 ‘‘(II) veteran farmers and ranch24 ers (as defined in section 2501(a) of 

25 the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, 


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1 and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 

2 2279(a))); and 

3 ‘‘(III) socially disadvantaged 

4 farmers and ranchers (as defined in 

5 section 355(e) of the Consolidated 

6 Farm and Rural Development Act (7 

7 U.S.C. 2003(e))).’’; and 

8 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(B) REVIEW.— 

10 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 

11 year after the date of enactment of the 

12 Farm to School Act of 2019 and every 3 

13 years thereafter, the Secretary shall review 

14 and submit to the Committees on Agri15 culture and Education and Labor of the 

16 House of Representatives and the Com17 mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and For18 estry of the Senate a report that describes 

19 the progress that has been made in identi20 fying and eliminating regulatory and other 

21 barriers related to developing farm to 

22 school programs. 

23 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS.—In preparing 

24 the report, the Secretary shall examine— 


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1 ‘‘(I) the direct and indirect regu2 latory compliance costs affecting the 

3 production and marketing of locally or 

4 regionally produced agricultural food 

5 products to school and early childhood 

6 food programs; 

7 ‘‘(II) barriers to local and re8 gional market access for small-scale 

9 production; 

10 ‘‘(III) barriers to funding 

11 projects that meet the criteria de12 scribed in paragraph (5)(A); 

13 ‘‘(IV) barriers to local and re14 gional market access for Tribal farm15 ers and ranchers; and 

16 ‘‘(V) barriers to funding Tribal 

17 projects under farm to school pro18 grams.’’; 

19 (7) in paragraph (8)— 

20 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

21 ‘‘$5,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$15,000,000’’; 

22 and 

23 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(C) ADMINISTRATION.—Of the funds pro25 vided to the Secretary under subparagraph (A), 


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1 not more than 5 percent may be used to pay 

2 administrative costs incurred by the Secretary 

3 in carrying out this subsection.’’; and 

4 (8) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘2011 

5 through 2015’’ and inserting ‘‘2020 through 2025’’. 

Æ 


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