Michigan Farm to School Updates | | Stay informed on the latest news, resources, and events! | | Update: 10 Cents a Meal for Michigan Kids and Farms | | | 10 Cents a Meal for Michigan’s Kids and Farms is Michigan’s local food incentive program implemented by the Michigan Department of Education. The program provides schools, early care and education centers, and other organizations participating in USDA Child Nutrition programs with grant funds to pay for Michigan-grown produce, including fruits, vegetables, and dry beans. Elected legislators have not yet passed a state budget and are currently working to reconcile funding that supports Michigan’s children.
The Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities is encouraging folks to show their support for 10 Cents a Meal to ensure it is included in the FY26 School Aid Budget. Learn more here about their current letter writing and call making campaign. | | National Farm to School Month is Coming Up! | | October is just around the corner, and that means now is the time to start planning your Farm to School celebration! Whether you're planning a special local lunch, organizing a farm field trip, tending to school garden activities, or participating in Michigan’s Great Apple Crunch, farm to school in the great state of Michigan is worth celebrating! | | Explore amazing resources provided by National Farm to School Network and bring inspiration and energy to celebrations in your schools! Explore and use their vibrant farm to school month artwork, toolkit, and resource database – all for free! | | USDA is providing free 2-inch farm to school stickers in rolls of 200 (up to 2,000 stickers total) for Child Nutrition Program operators, schools participating in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, childcare facilities in CACFP, summer meal sites, and state agencies. Order directly from their website. | | Celebrate Farm to School month with a school-wide apple crunch this October! | | | Thursday, October 16th, at noon is the official Michigan Great Apple Crunch date, but your school’s Crunch is welcome anytime this October!
- Register your school’s crunch.
- Follow the Michigan Apple Crunch Facebook page.
- Promote, tag #MIAppleCrunch, and share photos from your Apple Crunch!
Last year, more than 340,000 people participated in this statewide event. Be sure to mark the Crunch on your school calendars and help Michigan reach the 2025 goal of 400,000 Crunchers in Michigan!
There are so many ways to Crunch!
- Taste test multiple apple varieties and vote on your favorite.
- Feature a recipe with local apples for school breakfast or lunch throughout October.
- Invite a local farmer to participate in the event.
- Michigan Apple Committee’s website has activities for kids and resources for teachers.
If you are looking for places to purchase local food, the Michigan Department of Education’s Michigan Farm to Program Directory can help! The Michigan Farm to Program Directory is a searchable database of both suppliers and buyers of Michigan-grown products. This tool makes it easier for food program operators to purchase and serve Michigan fresh produce and helps Michigan farmers and food suppliers connect with new customers. | | Youth as Food Justice Leaders September 24, 2025
Learn about Growing Hope’s Teen Leadership Program in Ypsilanti, Michigan! Each year, Growing Hope employs teens to train as leaders within the local food movement. Topics in this webinar will include understanding youth-driven principles and the philosophy of the Growing Hope Teen Leadership Program, key structural elements of a program that has developed young food justice leaders over the course of several years, and how youth-driven facilitation and leadership can lead to impactful community engagement. | | | Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in the Garden Training September 30, 2025
This free online training will focus on using SEL strategies in school gardens, and “back pocket activities.” These are short garden activities curated from a variety of sources including Life Lab and Kids Gardening. Note the 6:30pm start time is Pacific Time/3:30 Eastern Time. | | | Northeast Michigan (NEMI) Regional Food Summit October 21, 2025
The NEMI Food Summit will be a gathering of farmers, food producers, health professionals, educators, advocates, and community members working together to strengthen and envision Northeast Michigan’s food system. This free, in-person event will feature keynote speakers, networking opportunities, and hands-on learning designed to inspire collaboration and action. | | | National Farm to School Network’s Movement Meeting October 23, 2025
National Farm to School Network will host their annual Movement Meeting as a celebration of collective wisdom, practices, and partnerships that are shaping the future of farm to school. This vibrant gathering brings together practitioners and community members from across the country to connect, reflect, and plant seeds of intentional growth for the movement ahead. Regardless of your role or level of experience with farm to school and early care education, this Movement Meeting is for you! | | | National Black Child Development Institute's 2025 National Conference October 24-26, 2025
This year's conference in Atlanta, Georgia invites us to step into a future rooted in possibility, imagination, and transformation. Three bold tracks will speak directly to the needs, dreams, and liberated futures of Black children and families. Guided by the principles of Afrofuturism, these tracks are not just themes—they are blueprints for reimagining systems, reclaiming narratives, and co-creating a world where Black brilliance thrives without limit. | | | Cultivating Futures: Green Careers Begin with School Gardens October 30, 2025
This interactive session will explore pathways that connect garden-based learning to green careers. Attendees will walk through a K-12 framework for engaging students in food and agricultural systems both to meet the growing demand for a trained green workforce and to provide viable, rewarding career options for students. | | | School Meals for a Sustainable Future: Local, Organic, & Regenerative November 19, 2025
Join the Chef Ann Foundation for the final session in their free webinar series. This webinar will explore the realities of districts’ ability to incorporate more local, regenerative, and organic food into their programs. | | | The 10th National Farm to Cafeteria Conference December 2-5, 2025
The National Farm to Cafeteria Conference is designed to be a powerful space for learning, networking, and collective action. In light of all of the changes in the food systems space this year, this will be an even more impactful and important moment to gather in person. Whether you’re involved in school nutrition, local food procurement, early care education, or community food access, you are invited to join this December! | | | | Agenda Highlights:
- Curated Workshops and Networking Sessions
- Exhibitor and Poster Sessions
- Intensive Courses: Farm to ECE Deep Dive, Bringing the Farm to Table, Creating and Sustaining School Gardens, and more!
- Field Trips to Local Farm to School Sites
| | 2026 Growing School Gardens Summit February 19-22, 2026
Save the date for February 19 to 22 in Phoenix, Arizona when over 700 school garden educators will gather for four days of peer-to-peer learning, networking, and movement building. | | | Resources, Opportunities, and Inspiration: | | | Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program: APPLICATIONS OPEN NOW!
Exciting news: USDA’s Farm to School grant is now open! This grant is designed to increase the availability of local foods in Child Nutrition Program (CNP) operations and connect students to the sources of their food through education, taste tests, school gardens, field trips, and local food sourcing for CNP meals. Grants can be used to launch new farm to CNP programs or expand existing efforts and projects can range from $100,000 to $500,000.
The USDA Farm to School Team will host office hours to provide applicants with an opportunity to ask questions about the grant program.
Sessions will be held from 2:00-3:00 PM Eastern Time on: | | | | | Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub Spark and Innovation Collaborative Awards: APPLICATIONS OPENING OCTOBER 15, 2025!
Do you know a way to bring local, nutritious food to more schools across our region?
MSU’s Center for Regional Food Systems is a part of the Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub, which supports people working to improve school meals across Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The initiative offers funding, training, and other assistance to partnerships that include farmers, food producers, suppliers, distributors, schools, and organizations.
Applications for two new funding opportunities will open October 15, 2025.
Spark Awards - Spark Awards fund projects that need a short-term infusion of funds for school food system and product improvements, such as capacity-building, planning, and product-testing projects.
- ($30K - $100K per year)
Innovation Collaborative Awards - Innovation Collaborative Awards fund projects that promote systems-level change of the school food system, such as scaling up of programs, forming regional partnerships, or developing or integrating new programs or products.
- ($250K - $500K over 2 ½ years)
Visit the Support for Michigan Applicants Page to connect with Michigan's state leads, develop project ideas, form, and manage partnerships, connect with resources, answer questions about your application, and strengthen your grant-writing by reviewing and/or editing your application!
Learn more at InnovateSchoolFood.org, and contact your State Lead, Julie Lehman, with any questions at lehmanju@msu.edu.
| | | | SURVEY: Philosophies and Practices of Exemplary Garden-Based Educators
- Elon University is launching a new research study on the philosophies and practices of garden-based educators and seeks your input! The short survey will take 10 minutes or less and will help researchers understand what experienced, effective garden-based educators believe and do -- and why.
Job Opportunity: Operations and Finance Executive Director at Partridge Creek Farm
- This role has primary responsibility for financial oversight, operational excellence, fundraising strategy, board development, and organizational compliance while collaborating closely with the Programs & Partnerships Co-ED on strategic planning and organizational culture development. Application period ends September 30, 2025 unless filled earlier.
The 2025 Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) Harvest of the Month - This monthly packet encourages children to learn about nutrition, agriculture, Indigenous food culture and cooking with monthly recipes, coloring pages, and fact sheets. Each month is focused on a different culturally relevant food in season. September’s feature is PUMPKIN!
| | | | Potatoes! A Cultivate Michigan Food
Explore Michigan potato sourcing tips, resources, and recipes for your school site. Want more spud celebration? The Edmore Potato Festival is this weekend!
| | | About Michigan Farm to School
Farm to School centers around efforts to serve local foods in school and early care and education settings. We share ideas, tools and resources to support a range of efforts, from school garden programming to farmer visits and field trips.
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