Farm to School Lunch Across America

The Henry Ford’s Farm to School Lunch Across America is an initiative to amplify the importance of farm fresh, seasonal meals for schoolchildren across the United States. By building a coalition of culinary experts, world-renowned chefs, farmers, food advocates and policymakers, The Henry Ford is bringing focus to the need for free, accessible, regeneratively grown school lunches made from locally sourced, in-season ingredients.

Farm to School Lunch Across America is funded in part by Ford Philanthropy.

Our Vision

The Farm to School Lunch Across America program aims to:

• Build coalitions around the need for locally sourced, in-season, regeneratively farmed and free lunches for K-12 school children across America, leading to long-term positive change in school lunch meals.
• Amplify and bring focus to the national conversation advocating for accessible, locally and regeneratively grown, scratch-cooked and free school lunches for schoolchildren across the country.
• Educate students and their communities on the importance of eating local, seasonal and nutritious meals and how this can positively impact the environment.
• Encourage the procurement of food directly from farmers and producers who take care of the land and their workers.

Our Impact

Throughout October 2024, The Henry Ford's Farm to School Lunch Across America took its mission and message on the road. Through a series of impact experiences in seven communities across the nation, the pilot program connected students and communities with local farmers, chefs and fresh food resources during National Farm to School Month.

Click here to find resources for educators about farm to school lunch on The Henry Ford’s inHub.

2024 Farm to School Lunch Across America Pilot Participants:

Academy for Global Citizenship in Chicago, Illinois
Edible Schoolyard at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California
Henry Ford Academy in Dearborn, Michigan
Michelle Obama School in Richmond, California
Minneapolis Public Schools in Minnesota
Mixter Institute for Transition in Lincoln Park, Michigan
William H. Ray Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois

	"Farm to school is a win for everyone—kids, families, farmers, communities, the earth." ─ Alan Shannon Former Public Affairs Director, USDA
	"The Farm to School Lunch Across America campaign is part of a larger movement, one that disrupts injustice by making care and nourishment the new standard, not the exception." ─ Sebastian White Founder and Chef, The Evolved Network
	"This collaboration was a meaningful opportunity to help build teacher capacity and confidence by providing professional development that connects curriculum to school food in tangible, lasting ways." ─ Alex DeSorbo-Quinn Executive Director, Pilot Light

Our Kitchen Cabinet

The Farm to School Lunch Across America Kitchen Cabinet is a group of experts convened by The Henry Ford to help support this initiative.

• Chef Rick Bayless
• Mark Bittman, The Bittman Project and Community Kitchen
• Kate Bittman, The Bittman Project
• Lauren Bush Lauren, FEED Projects
• Mary Culler, Ford Philanthropy
• Eric Davis, Ford Philanthropy
• Kris De La Torre, Cultivate Collective
• Alex DeSorbo-Quinn, Pilot Light Chefs
• Kathleen Findlay, Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming
• Emily Ford, Carver-Carson Society Founding Chair
• Danielle Foster-Russell, GrowNYC
• Mayuri Ghosh, Clinton Global Initiative
• Chef Tanya Holland
• Chef Paul Kahan
• Michelle Markesteyn, Oregon State University
• Michael Rosenberger, Lone Star K-12 Consulting
• Alan Shannon, USDA (Former)
• Jennifer Sherman, Alice Waters Institute
• Judi Shils, Conscious Kitchen
• Chef Sarah Stegner, Prairie Grass Café
• Alice Waters, Edible Schoolyard Network and Chez Panisse
• Sebastian White, The Evolved Network
• Richard Wolffe, Jose Andres Media Group

Project Partners

Ford Philanthropy
As the global philanthropic arm of Ford, Ford Philanthropy co-creates and invests in programs that build equity and apply mobility expertise to expand access to essential services, education for the future of work and entrepreneurship.

Pilot Light
Pilot Light’s mission is to support students as they learn and advocate for informed choices by bridging the lessons they learn in their classrooms to the foods on their lunch trays, at home, and in their communities.

The Evolved Network
The Evolved Network walks alongside youth in systemically oppressed communities, cultivating spaces of trust and growth where hands-on culinary and gardening experiences become pathways to healing, self-discovery, and the freedom to reclaim voice, uniqueness, dignity, and possibility.