FY2025 Farm to School Grant-Turnkey | USDA FNS 2025 F2S TURNKEY

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA FNS 2025 F2S TURNKEY

The FY2025 Farm to School Grant - Turnkey opportunity (USDA FNS 2025 F2S TURNKEY; CFDA 10.575) is a discretionary grant from USDA's Food and Nutrition Service that supports projects helping schools and other child nutrition operators increase the use of local foods and strengthen students' connection to where food comes from. The program is meant to expand access to local food in school meals while also building hands-on learning through activities like taste tests, school gardens, field trips, and agriculture or food-system education. Funds can be used to start a new farm to school effort or to grow an existing one.

The key feature of the FY2025 Turnkey track is that it is designed to reduce the burden of proposal writing by offering pre-designed, commonly used project activities. Even with that simplified approach, applicants are expected to follow the full Request for Applications (RFA) requirements and submit a complete package, since incomplete or unclear submissions can be screened out. USDA is also hosting optional informational webinars to help applicants understand the RFA and how to submit: an Introduction to the RFA on Nov 5 and a session on Submitting a Complete Grant Package on Nov 6 (registration links are provided in the notice).

Applicants must choose one of three Turnkey project tracks, and they are only allowed to apply to one track. The Action Planning track supports developing a clear roadmap for launching or strengthening farm to school work (basically the planning, coordination, and strategy needed to move from ideas to implementation). The Agricultural Education track supports incorporating agricultural education into curriculum and student learning experiences. The Edible Gardens track supports implementing a food production operation, typically through an edible garden model that can be used for education and potentially for tasting or integration with meal programs where allowable and appropriate. Regardless of track, applicants must show a commitment to one or more federal Child Nutrition Programs, meaning the project needs to be connected to the school meal or child nutrition environment rather than being a standalone community food project.

Awards fund 24-month projects, with a maximum (award ceiling) of $50,000 per grant. A match is required: applicants must provide at least 25 percent of the total project budget through cash or in-kind contributions. This is an important planning point because the match is tied to the total budget, not just the federal share, so applicants should be prepared to document and justify the match source(s) and how they will be tracked.

Eligibility is broad but specific. Eligible entities include schools (including nonprofit private and charter schools) that operate the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and/or School Breakfast Program (SBP); eligible child care institutions with agreements to operate the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP); eligible summer sponsors with agreements to operate the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP); local agencies; Indian Tribal Organizations and Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs); agricultural producers (or groups of producers); and nonprofit entities (including 501(c)(3) organizations). The Grants.gov listing also reflects eligible applicant categories such as county governments, city or township governments, independent school districts, federally recognized tribal governments, and 501(c)(3) nonprofits. A critical compliance detail is that the application must clearly and unambiguously state the applicant's entity type, and the applicant can only apply under one entity type even if it could arguably qualify under more than one. If USDA cannot confirm eligibility from what is written in the application materials, the application can be deemed ineligible and removed from consideration without further review.

There are also strict limits on how many applications can be submitted. An applicant may submit only one application across the three FY2025 Patrick Leahy Farm to School grant solicitations (Implementation, Turnkey, or State Agency). If the same applicant submits multiple application packages across different solicitations, all submissions will be removed from consideration. In addition, multiple applications from within the same entity are not allowed; for example, if a school district applies and an individual school within that same district also applies, both applications are removed. This makes internal coordination especially important for districts, large nonprofits, and organizations with multiple sites or affiliated entities.

The opportunity was posted on 2024-10-28 and has an application deadline (original closing date) of 2025-01-10. USDA anticipates making around 60 awards under this Turnkey opportunity. This Turnkey RFA is one of three FY2025 funding options under the Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program, and prospective applicants are directed to review the RFA Grant Track Decision Document (referenced under the related documents on Grants.gov) to confirm which grant type best fits their goals before applying.

• The Food and Nutrition Service in the food and nutrition sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY2025 Farm to School Grant-Turnkey" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.575.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-10-28.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-01-10. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $50,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 60 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: County governments, City or township governments, Independent school districts, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education.

Apply for USDA FNS 2025 F2S TURNKEY

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: