Did you know that Utah is one of only 12 states that offer child nutrition program operators financial incentives to buy and serve locally grown food? The idea behind these programs is that they allow farmers to receive a fair price for their products while relieving the cost burden on schools. In Utah, the program started with the 2021-2022 school year and is funded by state liquor tax.
This year, eight Utah food service programs received additional year-end payments ranging from $6,700 to $70,000 to compensate them for the extra effort and cost incurred when serving Utah-grown food to their students. The funding recipients are:
Emery School District
Guadalupe School
Millard School District
Murray School District
Salt Lake City School District
Sevier School District
Tooele School District
Wasatch Waldorf Charter School
We applaud these local food leaders!
Popular local items purchased under this program were apples, peaches, dried cherries, onions, mushrooms, green beans, zucchini, yogurt, and cheese. We owe our partners at Dairy West a big thank you for helping us determine which Utah dairy processors use milk from Utah cows! Locally raised and processed meats are also eligible for this program, and we hope to see more schools making those purchases in the future.
The National Farm to School Network is also holding a series of flash talks from states with local purchase incentive programs. Utah will be presenting on August 14th at 12:30 pm. Learn more about these events and register here.
