During the 2020 Legislative Session, the general budget that passed and was signed by Governor Ivey included $120,000 dollars specifically for Farm to School. These funds were set aside to help incentivize those who are serving Alabama produced items in their Child Nutrition Programs. Since the start of this program, we have continued to receive more money from the legislature. For the 2024-2025 school year we received $550,000 to incentivize schools for serving local items.

When a school serves a meal component item that was sourced from Alabama, they can be reimbursed $0.20 per meal component. In other words, if a school is offering Alabama Satsumas as their fruit offering for a particular meal, ever meal served that includes a satsuma will receive an additional $0.20 from ADAI. If the school is featuring satsumas and sweet potatoes from Alabama, that's $0.40 per meal. If the school also features a meat item such as sausage, beef, or chicken from Alabama that's $0.60 per tray. Of course, this does exclude DoD and commodity purchase because they are already funded by USDA. This program is designed to offset the amount of money you spend with your general funds on local food items purchased.

At the end of each month, school food authorities will submit a completed "Incentive Form", their monthly point of service meal counts (tally sheets are acceptable) and invoice(s) matching what they are claiming. Once everything is received and verified in our office, we will submit for payment to be sent to the respective school food authority. This information should be sent to Beth Spratt via email at beth.spratt@agi.alabama.gov.

*School food authorities should submit the "Incentive Form" using the exact name that appears in STAARS to ensure accurate and efficient disbursement of funds.

**School food authorities must submit at least $500 for a claim to be paid.

***There is a limit per school food authority of $20,000.

To learn more about how this program works and how to complete the Incentive Form, see the short videos below.