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California legislators back call to protect federal funding for local foods in school and child care meals
Summary
The Senate Agriculture Committee heard testimony supporting AJR 6, which urges federal protection of funds that help schools and child care programs buy California-grown food. Farmers and school nutrition directors told the committee cuts would reduce farm sales and students' access to fresh produce.
Assemblymember Agriar Curry presented AJR 6 on the Senate Committee on Agriculture floor, asking federal representatives to protect federal funding for local foods for schools and child care programs.
AJR 6 asks the federal government to maintain funding for programs that promote procurement of California-grown food for school meals and child care, which proponents say supports family farms and student nutrition.
Antonio Garza, who said he and his fiancée run Feeding Crane Farm in Nevada County, told the committee the local foods program and local food purchase agreement “were a lifeline for small community focused farms like mine” and that cuts to the program would reduce his farm’s ability to hire employees and expand sales. Garza said sales to food banks were nearly 15% of his farm’s sales in 2024 and that sales to local schools had increased in 2025.
Leslie Pring, nutrition services director for Twin Rivers Unified School District, said the district — which she said has 26,000 students and participates in the Community Eligibility Provision — served nearly 4.7 million breakfasts and lunches in a recent school year and that “investments in local school food funding is not merely an expense or wasteful funding in our government, but it's an investment in our students, our farmers, and our communities.” Pring said about 80% of the district’s fresh fruits and vegetables come from within a 200-mile radius.
Proponents cited state and local examples of the program’s reach. The author said the first allocation provided “over $23,000,000 in 2022 and '23” and that funding reached more than 319 school districts, with examples including Merced, Modesto City, Desert Sands Unified and school districts in Shasta County.
Supporters and organizational witnesses who stated positions in committee included Lizzie Cutsona (on behalf of the office of Kat Taylor), Scott Sadler (Community Alliance for Family Farmers), and Cassie Mancini (California School Employees Association). The committee recorded no speakers in opposition during the hearing.
The committee placed AJR 6 on call and then advanced it out of the committee by recorded vote. The committee recorded the item as having sufficient votes and sent it forward for further consideration.
