Eat Real Wins 2024 USDA National Farm to School Grant

We are honored and excited to share that we have been selected as a USDA 2024 Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant recipient! This $463K multi-year implementation award will fund our expansion into Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, strengthening and extending the region’s farm to school ecosystem for historically underserved communities. Here’s our (extremely exciting) plan:

Working with our new partners, Small Bites Adventure Club based in Georgia, Eat Real will provide its award-winning K-12 certification program to support food service leaders in putting delicious, locally sourced foods in their cafeterias, while Small Bites Adventure Club will educate teachers, students, and families about the ease and joy of discovering and eating fruits and vegetables.

By connecting the farm to the cafeteria, classroom, and household—and continuously engaging all stakeholders in building a strategic roadmap for the expansion of the network—we can increase the availability of local foods in schools, increase market opportunity for local producers, strengthen local economies, and enable lasting community-driven change in these states. Key partners will include regional school districts, farmers, government officials, influencers, celebrity chefs, and professional athletes. Special thanks to Alabama football star Marcell Dareus as well as our friends at Potlikker Capital and The National Farm to School Network for their advocacy and support.

We’ll begin working in Alabama and Georgia this fall, with plans to expand into Louisiana and Oklahoma in the coming months. Are you a school food professional, local parent, or philanthropist in one of these states who wants to support this effort? Please reach out! Eat Real and Small Bites Adventure Club would love to meet you. Contact jiwon@eatreal.org.