Schools in Arizona are scrambling for funds to continue farm-to-school programs, after school meal budget cuts clash with RFK Jr.'s health rhetoric.

Tucson

Schools in Tucson, Arizona, have been working to improve student nutrition by providing meals that include fresh fruits and vegetables, such as mandarin oranges, cherry tomatoes, and butter lettuce. This shift toward healthier school meals has been supported by the federal Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS), which connects schools with local farmers. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently canceled LFS, leaving school districts searching for alternative funding to maintain access to fresh produce.

Lindsay Aguilar, who oversees nutrition for Tucson District Schools, notes that for many students—especially those from low-income families—school lunches may be their only regular access to fresh fruits and vegetables. In the Tucson district, nearly 30 percent of families rely on government food assistance, a rate above the national average. Many students live in areas known as food deserts, where access to affordable, healthy food is limited, making school meal programs vital for students’ nutrition and food security.

John B. Wright Elementary School Principal Brenda Encinas highlights that some students come to school hungry, sometimes having eaten only ice cream or chips for dinner due to lack of resources or support at home. The school provides free meals to all students through a federal program for high-poverty schools, ensuring that students have access to breakfast and lunch each day.

Despite the emphasis on nutrition, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has criticised U.S. schools for offering unhealthy meals and has drawn attention to synthetic dyes and ultra-processed foods through his Make America Healthy Again campaign. Aguilar states that such ingredients are rarely used in Tucson schools, which have fostered relationships with local farmers since 2015.

Joe Marlow, a local farmer who supplies produce to Tucson schools, says the school system is an important customer for small farms, helping to stabilize income. With uncertainty about future federal funding for local food programs, farmers like Marlow are preparing to seek other markets to compensate for potential losses.

Nutrition directors across the country are concerned about the contradictory federal approaches—cuts to food program funding while public criticism of school nutrition grows. Schools, particularly those in high-poverty areas, rely on consistent support to continue offering healthy meals to students who might otherwise go without.



U.S. schools under pressure to make meals healthy despite funding cuts

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