CDFA Farm to School Incubator Grant Program open until April 4, 2024

The CDFA Farm to School Incubator Grant Program is open until April 4, 2024 and has $52.8 million in funding available.

There are 4 Different Track Options:

Track 4 will fund California food producers and public-serving aggregation and distribution enterprises to increase production, processing, and/or distribution capacity to sell California grown or produced, whole or minimally processed foods to the California school food market.

To be eligible, an applicant must show evidence of an established relationship with each California School Food Authority or childcare center operator of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) to which they intend to sell food. Funding will prioritize small to midsized food producers; veteran, socially disadvantaged, and/or limited-resource food producers; and food producers utilizing climate smart agriculture practices, climate smart agriculture production systems like certified organic or transitioning to certified organic, or other regenerative strategies.

Applicants may propose to use funds to:

(1) purchase infrastructure, equipment, and supplies to increase production, processing, and/or distribution capacity to sell California grown or produced, whole or minimally processed foods to schools; and/or

(2) purchase infrastructure, equipment, and supplies to establish or enhance the use of climate smart agriculture practices, production systems, and/or other regenerative strategies when producing California grown or produced, whole or minimally processed foods to sell to schools; and/or

(3) cover staffing costs dedicated to farm to school activities; and/or

(4) pursue certifications, licensures, or insurance that the applicant needs to sell California grown or produced, whole or minimally processed foods to schools; and/or

(5) establish new or expand existing hands-on food education opportunities for students, School Food Authority staff, and/or child care center staff that complement the applicant's existing or project-related California food sales to California schools, such as field trips, producer visits to the cafeteria or classroom, etc

For more information:

• CDFA Farm to School Grant webpage

• CDFA Farm to School Grant FAQs

• Register HERE for the next Q&A zoom session on Thursday, March 28 at 6PM.

• Contact the CDFA Office of Farm to Fork team at cafarmtoschool@cdfa.ca.gov